


Exactly What I Needed

by curlsandblueyes



Series: Good Is A Thing You Do [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel's Avengers (Video Game), The Avengers (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Additional scenes, Angst, Family Feels, Father Figures, Father-Daughter Relationship, Feelings of Abandonment, Fluff, Humor, Kamala Khan being Kamala Khan, Marvel's Avengers (Video Game) - Freeform, Mentee, Missing Scenes, New Family, New Scenes, One-Shots, Protective Avengers, Protective Bruce Banner, Protective Kamala Khan, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Sweet, Video Game, mentor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26622340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curlsandblueyes/pseuds/curlsandblueyes
Summary: One-Shots from Marvel’s Avengers Game. Centered around Kamala and Bruce’s relationship. Missing scenes, new scenes and little sweet add-ons between the best “father-daughter duo” in the game.
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Kamala Khan, Kamala Khan & Bruce Banner
Series: Good Is A Thing You Do [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936711
Comments: 48
Kudos: 196





	1. A Hug

As soon as they stepped out of the prison Kamala felt the receding emotions well within her once more at the sight of his purple shirt. She hadn’t just failed, she has betrayed his trust. Even though Bruce had his moments of swaying from running and staying, he stilled stayed. He helped her more than she could ever thank him for and she did this. 

‘Good going Kamala. He’s gonna hate you now.’

Suddenly, it hit her. She hated the idea of Bruce hating her more than she did of failing. She didn’t have her family, and as much as the stray Avengers did try at making her feel a part of the team, they had each other and she had no one. She knew deep down they loved each other like family did. They may get on one another nerves and want to skip Thanksgiving if they were sat next to the annoying cousin, but they still cared. She wished for her family’s support all the time but now... she couldn’t even contact them, risk putting them in danger or worse, facing their disgust with her actions. 

She wanted to crawl into a hole and die. The sight of Bruce walking towards her and Agent Romanoff with that stern look, eyes flickering green, made her stomach roil with shame. She couldn’t face him, not after this. When he finally came close enough to hear them she opened her mouth to apologize but the air was knocked out of her. 

She blinked in surprise, her chin pushed up onto Bruce’s shoulder as he hugged her. She could tell he was trying to restrain himself, his arms were trembling but the hug was almost bruising. Charged with the same type of worry her father had for her sometimes. It made her feel safe. Made her feel cared about. Loved. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, voice thick.

She wrapped her hands around his back and pressed her face into his shoulder as all the past few hours came crashing on her. She sobbed, and gripped his purple shirt. Bruce’s body deflated with a heavy sigh and he pulled away a little to look down at her face.

“It’s, uh, it’s okay. You’re alright?” He asked.

She nodded and wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. He stepped back but gave her shoulder a small squeeze before turning and speaking to Agent Romanoff. Tiny Dancer. So cool.

“Thanks Nat,” Bruce sighed again.

“Better keep an eye on this one Bruce,” Natasha said but threw Kamala a wink before heading for the Chimera.

Bruce cleared his throat awkwardly, reaching up to scratch behind his head.

“Umm, we should go join the others and discuss what we do next, then,” Bruce said.

“Right,” Kamala nodded.

She took a step forward ready to head back when Bruce stopped her suddenly. She looked up at him and saw him looking over face for damage, maybe an excuse to send her to a doctor. She shuddered at the idea, only just saved from being a science experiment to his psychotic ex. Doctors right now, big no no.

“Kamala I - I really don’t know what I was going to say, but I’m really glad you’re alright,” he whispered softly.

She smiled at him. Already so used to his awkwardness and shy disposition. She knew it must’ve taken him a lot to initiate that hug and she cherished it. She wanted to reassure that the effort was appreciated.

“Thank you Bruce. I needed the hug,” she smiled and skipped off towards the Chimera.


	2. A Gesture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not in chronological order, but I keep rewatching gameplay and the ideas come to me. Terrible at finishing the ones I'm working on as the new ones come. Enjoy!

This was such a bad idea. A very bad, no good, awful idea.

Bruce hated being so susceptible to a guilt story. He didn't have Natasha’s adamant decision making or Tony’s ability to weasel his way out of situations. He was utterly terrible at saying no.

Cap had once said that it was a good quality. The willingness to help. It made him human. A softie, as Tony has joked once. He didn’t exactly hate the label. Bruce watched many people with powers lose their humanity and the Avengers were no exception. They cared but sometimes it was hard to connect to people when you were so far removed from the general problems of everyday life.

Maybe it was an upside of his “power”, because it really wasn’t his own. It was hard for people to realize that the Hulk was a separate entity, a roommate. A really angry, charged up roommate.

Bruce Banner was a separate person. Not a part of him. He could understand the problems of a normal person’s life because he was, on his own, a normal person.

Therefore he was subject to the caring nature of a human, and subsequently, the guilt trips of a teenage runaway.

Bruce sighed as he looked into his wallet. They had pulled into a small, ancient gas station devoid of life here so far out into the canyons. Thankfully the big guy hadn’t lost his wallet but the paper money was utterly destroyed. He looked up to the gas station and highly doubted they took debit cards.

“Is there a problem?”

Bruce jumped a little, forgetting the girl beside him for a moment. He started running over random calculations in his head, feeling that familiar strain in his muscles. After a few deep breaths and recitations, he felt calm enough to respond, but she beat him to it.

“Oh! I don’t think they'll take those,” she said pointing out the scrapped bills.

“Agreed,” he sighed.

“Well I’ll get the gas! I’m thirsty anyways, want anything?” She asked.

Bruce felt his stomach clench at the idea of food. Admittedly, he was starving, but he always had a weak stomach after transforming. Considering he hadn’t returned to himself for so long he doubted that he would be able to keep anything down.

“Uhhh no thank you I — Wait, no. I’m not letting a kid pay for gas, I’ll go see if they have an ATM,” Bruce said ready to leave.

The door was open an inch before a larger hand passed across him and pulled it closed. He snapped his head back at Kamala who smiled sheepishly and retracted her arm, clasping her hands together.

“Please? You’re giving me a ride, it’s the least I can do. Plus, uhh, not to sound like totally rude but you’re looking a little green... I mean! Not _that_ “Green” but the - the other green. How about a water?” Kamala’s offered with a nervous chuckle.

Bruce berated himself for his weakness but knew she was right. Plus the idea of interacting with anyone else right now might put him on an edge his tired mind wasn’t ready to deal with. Reluctantly he nodded.

“Water sounds good. I’ll pump the gas,” he said.

“Cool! Be right back!” Kamala said with a triumphant grin and hopped out of the RV.

He watched her approach the store front, looking around her cautiously before entering. The windows along the front were coated in thick dirt from the desert floor but he could see her well enough. She approached the lone attendant and reached into her bag, Bruce felt a stinging guilt as he watched her hand over the cash to the attendant. Despite her offer he’d figure out a way to pay her back once they reached some sort of modernized terrain.

Bruce got out of the RV and left the door open as he pulled the nozzle from the old gas pump, the lights flickering to life. The pump let out a low groan and he grimaced at the sound, worried about the integrity of the old thing. He wondered when it was used last.

He looked back up at the station as Kamala returned. She carried a extra large cup of what he assumed was soda and a bottle of water with two straws in the other hand. When she reached him she looked down at the straws and shrugged.

“My mom told me its better to take small sips when you’re feeling nauseous, thought it would help,” she explained with a hopeful look.

Bruce felt a warmth spread through him. It was ridiculous but the small gesture was touching. He gave her a small smile and a nod. Kamala beamed and skipped around to the passenger side.

Maybe this wouldn’t be such a very bad, no good, awful idea after all.


	3. An Apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is a long one! An added moment between Bruce and Kamala after the fight at Golden Acres.

The trip back to the _Chimera_ felt longer than the trip to Golden Acres. Bruce knew that it really wasn’t, but the tense atmosphere made the minutes drag into hours. Typically, he would’ve welcomed the silence, only less than an hour ago dropping the hint to Kamala as she rambled on though the comms. Now the silence was agonizing.

Bruce, yet again, felt like an outsider. An intruder. Tony obviously had nothing to say, still wrapped up in his anger lit anew by their less than ideal reunion. Bruce expected that, and honestly didn’t blame him or really care. As guilty as he felt about the rift he created with his friends he knew what he said was right. Tony was too stubborn and idealistic to see it.

However, the silence that really tore at him came from Kamala. Or didn’t, since she hadn’t said a word since they left. Despite her excitement about meeting Tony and finally making some progress, the shine of their misadventure seemed to wear off. They had Tony, but Bruce’s intentions had been revealed.

He looked over to her, sitting in one of the last seats of the quintet, far away from them. Tony was sitting in the pilot's seat, busying himself with checking over the equipment even though JARVIS handled it remotely. Just a distraction. Bruce stood between the two seats looking out at the sky and trying not to think about Kamala.

He had been less than tact with his words. Bruce’s mind so riddled with anxiety, exhaustion, the footage, AIM, the Avengers, Cap’s death, and whole list of things he couldn’t process. Everything came tumbling out and he basically admitted that he couldn’t handle Kamala on top of it.

Bruce didn’t _not_ like her. She was witty, kind, ambitious, and so bubbly that that alone made his head spin. And she was strong, so shockingly strong that Bruce envied her a small amount. On his own he wasn't very confident. He knew he was smart, smarter than most, but the confidence ended there. Without the Avengers, he could barely do much good. Barely take care of himself.

He sighed. That was the danger of forming connections. Eventually, one way or another, those connections were lost and then came the pain. He couldn’t handle it. Not another person. Isolation was safer.

_Cowardly._

He didn’t know if the voice in his head was his own, or the Hulk’s. Maybe Tony’s or even Cap’s, but the voice was right. He was a coward, and his cowardice had led to hurting Kamala.

He looked back again, over his shoulder. Kamala was rubbing the red scarf she kept with her between her fingers and looking down right beaten.

He felt worse than he thought he would. Bruce knew when he brought her to Golden Acres that he would try to get Tony to look after her so he could crawl back into isolation. He knew that it would sting a little, but he had decided then and there that it would be better for her. That she would be better off without him. He, who lacked that ambition and spark that she and Tony seemed to share.

That plan had gone up and flames. Instead of a quick ripping off the bandaid, he had wounded her. Deeply. He didn’t know how to fix it. Apparently it was another thing he had in common with the Hulk. Wrecking things.

When they arrived back at the _Chimera_ , Tony finally started talking again. To himself, of course. He commented on the poor state of things and made quips about the lack of maid service. Bruce ignored the commentary as they headed for the command deck and to speak with JARVIS.

On the command deck, Bruce noticed that Kamala had slipped away. He assumed she had gone to her room and he felt the guilt wash through him again. He barely paid attention to Tony’s discussion with JARVIS and tried to think of a solution. He found himself, oddly, missing her and her stream of consciousness filling the silence. He didn’t wait for Tony to finish and headed out to fix the door to the technology lab. Tony would need it eventually.

He found the junction box that would be the key to getting the door open. Bruce could fix it, although not being his area of expertise, but wondered if there would be enough power to getting it working. He sighed. Today just wasn’t his day. He wrenched off the door of the junction box, holding up a hand to his face at the sparks from the ruined wires. He leaned forward against the wall with one hand and held his chin with the other as he surveyed the damage.

“Need any help with that?”

He turned quickly at the small, hesitant voice behind him and saw Kamala standing there, wringing her hands nervously. She didn’t meet his eyes, but seemed to want to help. He swallowed hard, still a little shocked at hearing her first words since the fight at Golden Acres.

“Uh, y-yeah, sure.. if you want to,” he mumbled awkwardly turning back to box.

“Cool,” she said.

He watched her, out of the corner of his eye, as she walked over to the covered table in the center of the room and hoisted herself up. Kamala swung her legs, absent minded, and looked around before focusing back on the switch box.

“So, what’s the issue?” She asked.

They fell into a dull conversation, saying and talking about no more than solutions for the broken junction box. He was a little surprised at the extent of her knowledge, knowing more than the average teenager he would presume, but not as genius as Tony. Then again Tony seemed to come from an entirely different breed of engineers so it wasn’t all too shocking that her information was limited.

Speaking of the devil.

Tony showed up just as Bruce was reconnecting a dislodged wire and all of the lights flickered, and sputtered pathetically. “Do I want to know what’s going on here?”

Bruce ignored him but Kamala greeted him, “Hey Tony… Just lending my… um, technical knowledge to Bruce here.”

“Well, I can see I have my work cut out for me,” Tony replied not skipping a beat.

Bruce tried to continue ignoring him, but his own depressing thoughts and Tony’s jabs were starting to grate on his nerves, “Not helping Tony.”

Tony seemed to take the hint and headed off for the hangar to check on the power source and really assess the extent of the damage. There was silence again and Bruce chanced a glance over his shoulder to look at Kamala, but she had disappeared again. Left to himself, he tried to focus on his work but found the distracting worry over Kamala impeding him.

He rubbed a hand at the back of his neck and decided he couldn’t function without resolving the situation. Bruce tried calling her on his comms but they wouldn’t connect. She must’ve turned her’s off.

The realization that he would have to knock on her door to talk to her scared him. He really was a coward if he was too scared to approach a teenage girl and apologize. He groaned in frustration and leaned his head against his hand.

Faintly, he heard Tony from the hangar and decided the best approach was an indirect one. He called Tony over the comms, “Hey Tony. I’m still working on the door but can you check on Kamala? I think she may have turned off her comms.”

Bruce hoped that she would be more open to speak with Tony than him at the moment.

“ _Oh. Okay. Sure?”_

The last thing Bruce needed was another lecture from Tony about his morals and weaknesses so he tried to pass it off as something typical.

“Yeah, this whole thing… it’s probably a tough adjustment,” Bruce said.

Thankfully, Tony agreed, “ _You got it.”_

The line died and Bruce listened as Tony entered Kamala’s room without knocking. He rolled his eyes, picturing the awful outcome of barging into a teenager’s room unannounced and could imagine Kamala chewing him out right about now. A few minutes passed, Bruce growing more anxious, wondering what they were talking about. He tried to connect two wires when Tony’s voice on the comms and right above him made him jump in surprise. He hissed at small shock from the wires.

“ _Bruce. The kid’s fine. She’s tough. Kinda like her. AND, she laughs at my jokes.”_

Bruce couldn’t help but laugh a little, agreeing, “Yeah. She ah… She grows on ya.”

He finished connecting the wires and the red lights above the doors flickered white. So close. Before closing the comms he asked Tony, “Hey, umm… meet me at the Tech lab? I’ve almost got this door fixed.”

“ _You got it…”_

Tony said something at the end that Bruce couldn’t hear, “Sorry what was that?”

“ _Nothing. On my way.”_

Bruce heard Tony’s foot steps behind him as he tried to figure out what he was missing. The problem seemed more extensive apparently. Maybe he would have try something else. He heard Tony stop right behind him.

“You’re still working on this door, huh?” He asked.

Bruce sighed, “Well… I just need to remove the entire junction box and re-connect the —“

He was cut off as the fuses fizzled, and there was a small explosion of smoke and sparks. He yanked his hand away, shaking away the burning sensation stinging his skin. Tony laughed behind him, and quipped “Ah! Great job, buddy. See… wasn’t so hard.”

Bruce could hear the sarcastic and mocking undertones as Tony commented when the door finally opened, “This place is starting to really come to life again, eh?”

Bruce rolled his eyes and asked, “You fishing for a complement?”

“No, no, never. Just making an observation,” Tony defended, obviously waiting for the complement.

It didn’t seem like he was going to leave before he was praised. Bruce sighed, he answered Tony, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “Fine. Thanks for helping to fix things up, Tony.”

Tony smirked. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

_Prick_ Bruce thought, shaking his head.

Tony headed into the lab, the door closing behind him and Bruce looked up towards Kamala’s room. Tony said she was fine so maybe he could finally talk to her. He glanced back at the door, making sure Tony wouldn’t walk out and see him slinking up to Kamala’s room. Bruce winced at his footsteps resounding off the metal stairs and echoing, mockingly back at him.

He stood in front of the door, shifting his weight and trying to work up the courage to knock.

_Don’t be a coward. Just apologize._

He took a deep breath, stepping forward with his arm raised ready to knock.

Bruce felt a jolt of fear as the door began to slide open and he felt mortified at the idea of intruding while she was still upset with him. But when the door opened, Kamala was standing there, answering the knock.

He was a little surprised at her attire. She wasn’t wearing her t-shirt and jeans from earlier. She was wearing a blue tunic over a long sleeve red shirt and matching leggings. The scarf she had kept in her bag was wrapped around her neck, and hanging down her back. She kept the heavy gold band around her left arm on, and in her hand an eyepiece clearly cut from the same blue fabric as the tunic. She had left on her gray sneakers with the Captain Marvel logo on the sides.

The smile slipped from her face and his spirits fell as she looked down at her feet.

“Hey Bruce, sorry, I thought you were Tony again.”

He had come this far, he couldn’t stop now. “Sorry, I was uh, hoping that maybe we c-could talk, ya know? That is if you’re not busy of course.”

He held his breath as she waited to answer. She seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding, “Sure, come on in.”

Okay. Step one complete.

He followed her into the room, looking around at the small changes she had made. It was starting to feel a little more homey now, and he wondered if her room back home looked similar. He guessed it might, trying to think about ways she might be coping with all of this.

He sat down at the table adjacent to her bed. She leaned against her pillow facing him and pulling her knees up to her chest. She looked out the window watching the sun begin to peek above the horizon. Bruce swallowed and tried to smile as he gestured to her clothes.

“I like the uniform,” he said.

She looked down at herself and then back up at him with searching eyes, “Really?”

“Yeah, the colors, uh… they look good,” he said awkwardly, biting at his tongue.

A ghost of a smile passed over her face as she swung her legs around to dangle off the bed. “Thanks. Tony said he would help me upgrade it.”

“I can imagine he already has an idea or two,” Bruce chuckled.

“Yeah,” she laughed.

The silence came again and Bruce clasped his hands to keep from fidgeting again. He just needed to get it out. Needed to apologize. Things had changed. Their dynamic had changed. It was clear that this bond meant more to her than he had anticipated, and with how much he was struggling to fix this it mattered more to him too.

Bruce’s words to Tony about responsibility came back to slap him in the face. He was a hypocrite and a jerk to try and pass her on to someone else. He had involved himself too much now to break that connection. Frankly, Bruce found himself not wanting to break it either. He wanted to see where this went with as much optimism he could muster, since it was clear he couldn't run away any longer.

He opened his mouth, but Kamala beat him to it, “I’m sorry.”

He closed his mouth, and looked at her curiously, “W-why are you, uh, apologizing?”

She looked down at her lap, pressing her hands into her legs and shrugged, “For everything I guess. I shouldn’t have pushed you, it wasn’t fair. I was trying to do something good and I thought trying to get you to help me find Mr. Stark would some how get us closer to answers and maybe a chance at getting the Avengers back together, but then you fought and realized I had pushed too far and it was a selfish idea and - and I guess you made it clear to me that I’m just… too much of a handful.”

Bruce shook his head and reflexively reached out. He took her hands into his own, surprising himself and her with gesture, but he didn’t back down. He squeezed her hands and her eyes finally met his.

“No, Kamala. It should be me who is apologizing. I’ve had a lot of thoughts just come flooding back to me after I - woke up. Honestly, I’m horrible at coping and handling such intense… emotions? If that’s the right word for it. And you, you _are_ doing the right thing. We’re all in the dark here right now, so we’re gonna make mistakes and that’s alright. None of us are perfect… but that doesn’t excuse what I tried to do. I thought you would be, are still, better off without me. I’ve really thought that I was an obstacle for you. That I would, uh, be the reason the others wouldn’t listen. I mean, you saw Tony and I’s reunion, and that was probably a very g-rated reaction. Anyway, I wanted to see you succeed, but I - I am coward. I shouldn’t have tried to turn you over to Tony. I can’t do much, but I’m here, if that amounts to anything.”

Kamala’s face melted into a sympathetic smile and she took one of his hands into both of hers. It reminded him how young she was, such small hands around his. Even if she could make them larger than his own. She squeezed back this time.

“It does matter, Bruce. A lot. It means the world to me that you’re here, and you’re trying…. I’m sorry for pushing you.”

Bruce smiled back at her, “And I’m sorry for trying to _‘ditch’_ you.”

Kamala’s smile widened and then she launched herself forward and she… hugged him. He blinked in surprise, hands dangling beside him unable to move. When was that last time someone hugged him? He couldn’t even remember. Monica, her name leaving a bitter taste in his mouth, had never been very affectionate. The other Avengers weren’t very touchy, him included, and so he tried to think back. Maybe, one of the last times he had seen Betty? He swallowed as a new wave of intense emotions washed over him. Kamala still hadn’t let go and he felt her huff in amusement.

“Its a hug, Bruce. You’re supposed to hug the person back,” she teased.

He chuckled, shaking his head as her joke broke his sea of swirling thoughts and he gently wrapped his arms around her. He could hear the smirk in her next remark, “See? Not that hard.”

Oh, great. Another Tony.


	4. A Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Kamala met Betty?

“Did you want more hot chocolate to go?” Bruce asked Kamala as she pushed her empty mug to the side.

“Maybe a small cup, please,” Kamala answered and smiled up at him as he slid from the booth.

He nodded to her and grabbed his jacket off the back of the booth. He pulled the jacket onto his shoulders, straightening out the collar of his button up beneath. Outside the snow was falling in slow spirals and sprinkling the city in white, while people mulled about in preparations for the holidays. The diner they were in was decorated in an odd mashup of Christmas, Kwanza and Hanukkah baubles and ornaments, that gave Bruce a headache to look at for too long. The doctor walked up to the counter where the waitress was pouring a man some coffee, she looked up at Bruce and smiled at him, raising up one finger. “One second, hun.”

Bruce nodded and stuck his hands into the pockets of his jackets and looked around at the other customers. He glanced back at Kamala who was watching out the window and swinging her legs absent-mindedly making him smile to himself. He turned back to the counter and exchanged a quiet ‘hello’ with the man reading his newspaper. The waitress, an older lady whose name tag said Rebecca, walked over pulling her notepad from her waist apron and smiled as she flipped to their check. “What can I get you, hun?” She asked, clicking open her pen and looked up at him expectantly.

“Could I get two hot chocolates to go, please,” Bruce told her.

“Sure thing, hun. Would your daughter like a slice of apple pie? Just came out of the oven.”

Bruce blinked owlishly, stuck on the one word she had said and he opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a nervous chuckle. “Oh she’s not - she’s - o— okay. Sure.”

“Coming right up! I’m just gonna take that table’s order and then I’ll get you your things, hun,” she said pocketing her notepad and nodding to him.

“Thank you,” Bruce whispered.

When she walked away, Bruce groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to stop getting so tongue-tied when someone made a comment about Kamala being his daughter. This was the third time it had happened. It wasn’t a bad thing per se, in fact it made his stomach explode in butterflies and his chest warm with swell of something akin to pride. However, it was not his title to claim and he squashed the feelings back into the corners of his mind. He sighed and crossed his arms, body falling into the nervous sway that Tony always teased him about, as he scratched at his chin thoughtfully.

He looked over to Rebecca who was taking the elder lady’s order and then back towards the counter where he could see his muddled complexion in the polished wood. The song _It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,_ played over the radio coming from the kitchen and Bruce started gently humming along to it. He heard the bell above the front door chime and then a cacophony of young voices which told him a group of kids had just walked in. He was about to go back and join Kamala at the booth while they waited, when he felt a soft pressure on his shoulder and an even softer voice say his name. “Bruce?”

He turned towards whoever it was, and his eyes widened to saucers behind his glasses. “Betty?”

Bruce’s heart thundered in his chest, as she smiled and laughed while stepping back to look him up and down. “Look at you! You- I mean its so good to see you! How have you been?” She leaned in and his hands fumbled out of his pockets, as she wrapped him in a hug and he awkwardly placed his hands against her back. She stepped away again, still grinning madly as he struggled to remember how to speak and didn’t know whether to smile or - or - or something! Betty saw his struggle and chuckled. “Cat got your tongue?”

He laughed awkwardly and shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe - it’s you.”

“It’s me,” she laughed, spreading her arms out.

She was different than he remembered, mostly the same, but different. Betty’s dark hair, that she had always kept long, was cut short to her chin and curled at the end. She still had the same wide gray eyes and face splitting smile, but the edges of her features were crinkled with laugh lines. Bruce knew then that her life had been happy, seeing it etched upon her face and he felt bittersweet relief for this fact. She stepped closer again and rested a hand against his arm squeezing it. “You look good, Bruce.”

“Uh, y-you, too,” he stammered and she laughed again.

“Never dropped those nervous ticks did you?”

He chuckled. “I suppose not.”

“I’m glad. That you haven’t changed that much. I - I feel like I have so much to say, to _ask!_ I just never thought we’d meet again, _Mr. Avenger_ ,” She smirked.

Bruce’s heart skipped a beat and his stomach flipped nervously, feeling a coldness as her hand slipped from his arm to hold onto her bag. He swallowed hard sticking his trembling hands back into his pockets and glancing around anxiously. Betty smiled nervously and he cursed that stomach clenching sensation. That hadn’t changed for sure, her smile always made him so fuzzy and delirious with the euphoria that only came from love. Even a love so long abandoned, it seemed.

“How’s life?” He asked.

“Oh, life, it’s - well, life. After - after you left,” she whispered softly averting her eyes for a moment and he felt a painful sting of guilt, grimacing, but Betty continued. “I went back to school.”

“Y-you did?” He asked surprised.

“Yeah… I went for a masters in secondary education, and t-then got a job at Ichan Medical before I started working at a high school, and that - was my fresh start, I guess,” She shrugged.

A fresh start. Bruce had always thought that joining the Avengers had been his, and he was glad that she had found hers. She went to say something else when someone called from a table in the back of the restaurant. “Mom! Danny brought his phone in!”

Betty’s head turned and Bruce looked over to the table. Three boys, all with dark hair and between the ages of 10 and 5 waved over towards Betty and Bruce. Betty sighed, “Tell him to put it away before I come over there or you’re all grounded.”

The two younger boys quickly scrambled to steal the phone from the eldest brother’s hands and Betty huffed in amusement. Bruce, who felt sick to his stomach looked down at Betty’s left hand and there on her second to last finger, a diamond ring and a fine silver band. He felt like throwing up. He _was_ happy for Betty and had always hoped that he had never ruined her life, but he never really thought about her moving on, even when he had. Maybe, subconsciously, the old Bruce Banner, the one before the accident, had never really moved on. He smiled quickly when she turned her head back to him, but she frowned, always able to see past his best masks and this one was truly pathetic.

“I’m _so_ happy for you,” He said, but his voice was strained like it physically hurt to say the words, and honestly, it did.

He looked away from her searching eyes and she sighed, reaching out to his arms which he had folded in on himself. He took a step back and she smiled sadly lowering her hand. “I knew you weren’t coming back, and that we each had our own paths after Harlem, Bruce. I waited, for a long time, but I couldn’t wait forever.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” he said sardonically.

“But I still wanted you to be happy, too. I still care about you, I always have,” She whispered.

Bruce looked up to Betty, finally meeting her eyes which became glossy, and he dropped his arms nodding to her. “Thank you.”

“Hey, Is everything okay?”

Bruce jumped at the louder voice which appeared next to him and he looked down to Kamala, who looked at him with concern. Her eyes flickered over to Betty and then back to Bruce, asking him silently if he needed help or an escape. Betty looked at the girl curiously, but before Bruce could explain to the teenager, the waitress placed the two to-go cups and a bag on the counter with the check.

“You’re all set, hun. I put some extra whip cream on the slice of apple pie your dad got you, sweetheart. Hope you like it!” Rebecca said, winking at Kamala.

Bruce felt a new anxiety fill him and he bit his tongue as his mind tried to think of something to say. He met Betty’s eyes when the waitress said ‘your dad’ and her’s lit up, intrigued, as her head cocked to the side. However, his new problem was what Kamala would think about the lady’s comment. He looked over to Kamala, expecting mortification or quick denial, but instead all she did was squeal excitedly and beam up at him. “You’re trying to fatten me up, huh?”

Bruce gasped out a laugh and shook his head. “I promise that was not my intention.”

She giggled and then wrapped her arms around him squeezing gently and then, just like that, all of his painful emotions and raw, dredged up past, were forgotten. Bruce felt the tension in his muscles release and the forced smile relaxed to a genuine one, as she reached across him and grabbed the bag. She opened it up and looked down at it contents, rocking on the balls of her feet excitedly. “It looks _so_ good! Thanks, Bruce.”

“Your welcome,” he said.

Bruce’s eyes traveled over to Betty, suddenly remembering her standing there and thoroughly confused. He let out a nervous cough and Kamala looked up at him and then over to Betty. Bruce extended his hand to his ex-fiancee. “Kamala this is Dr. Elizabeth Ross. Betty this is Kamala Khan.”

“Nice to meet you Kamala,” Betty said politely, but her eyes were still filled with interest like she was staring at something impossible. Or what she thought was impossible.

“Nice to meet you too, Dr. Ross!” Kamala said with a bright smile and enthusiastic handshake.

Betty laughed at Kamala’s bubbly attitude and waved her hand. “You can just call me Betty. So, Bruce is your…?”

Betty looked at Bruce who opened his mouth, but Kamala interjected with a shrug. “Formally, my mentor. Informally, the list could go on; best-friend, teammate, second dad, master worrier, homework tutor…” Kamala counted off the fingers on one hand, her voice trailing off as each finger went up. Betty laughed hysterically and Bruce flushed with embarrassment, but he glanced at Kamala with a warm smile. She caught his eyes and winked at him before chuckling along with Betty. Whether it was to save him or not, the fact that she looked at him and thought of him as ‘second dad’ brought on an indescribable joy that he didn’t think Kamala would even begin to understand.

Betty grinned at Kamala and then at Bruce as he smiled proudly next to Kamala. The teenager gave him the extra boost of courage to face his painful memories, and looking at Betty now, he knew his next words to be true. “It was nice to see you again, Betty.”

“It was, Bruce. You look happy,” she said, eyes shining again.

“I am.”

Bruce closed his eyes as Betty pressed a hand against his shoulder and leaned up kissing his cheek gently. She stepped back from him, then looked at Kamala and wrapped the girl in a quick hug, surprising the teenager. She gave them both a smile and then turned away, walking towards the back table where her sons were. The idea of her with her children and a man that wasn’t him hurt, but it hurt a little less now.

Bruce allowed himself another second to watch her laugh with her sons, before he turned to the counter and grabbed the drinks. He handed Kamala hers. “Thank you very much,” she sang, moving the bag to her other hand and taking the drink.

“Ready to go home?” Bruce asked.

“Absolutely! I can’t wait to eat this in front of Thor and Tony, they’re gonna be _so_ jealous!” She said with a theatrical cackle at the end.

“What happened to sharing is caring?” Bruce chuckled, opening the door for her.

She shivered as they stepped out into the bitter city air and buried her face into her red scarf. Bruce reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling her close. She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled in content. “I’ll think about it.”

Bruce smirked as they walked down the street, leaving close knit foot prints behind them. Kamala hummed thoughtfully and looked up at him with her brow furrowed. “Hey Bruce?”

“What’s up kiddo?”

“Who was she?”

Bruce took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, the cloud of warm air slightly fogging his glasses. He tightened his hand around her shoulder a little bit and she leaned her head back against his arm. Part of him didn’t want to talk about it, but another part, a voice in his head that sounded so much like the girl beside him, told him to stop running.

“Where to start…” He mumbled looking up towards the gray sky.

“The beginning is usually a good place to start,” she said.

Bruce laughed, and she laughed along with him, as they turned down the street and he told her a story. A story with a sad beginning and a happy ending.


	5. The Speech

It was hard to understand.

It was hard for others to understand.

He could not express it to others. He could not compartmentalize the thoughts the same way the other one did, and he could not articulate his own response with such seamless coherency. The words that he heard were not as substantial as the feelings behind them, but he could not tell anyone this, even if he wanted to. They would not understand him, it was so hard to _speak_ when words failed him so often that feelings were an escape. A frustrating complacency that fueled the anger, over and over and over. The other one could not handle this vicious cycle, not the way that he could. So he took over, he took the reigns and he put the harness on that never-ending train of insufferable pain and fury.

This is how they functioned. This is what they learned to live with, together. Sometimes it did not always work the way they wanted to. It was complicated on every level and they suffered in this together as well, no matter how much the other one believed himself the only victim to this relationship.

While Banner struggled to control his emotions, Hulk struggled to watch him destroy things around them without raising a single fist.

They did not agree on a number of things, and both had a parallel subconscious and feelings that intersected at times. It was like a complex building foundation, a layered mind with different functions, but the same structure at the end of the day. So, Hulk understood the way Banner felt, and virtually became the ultimate empathizer, in turn.

Both agreed that Stark pushed too many buttons.

Hulk didn’t want to hurt the little one, that was a bond that he and Banner held very dearly, so he made sure to try his best and avoid her during the ensuing conflict. Stark was their friend, but that connection was as toxic to their mental stability as it was rewarding. There was respect for the metal man’s intellect, but his arrogance cost them greatly and Hulk knew he deserved a throttling here and there. He had come to a certain kind of peace with Banner’s mistakes thanks to Kamala’s sympathy and Banner’s acceptance, but Stark’s refusal to acknowledge his own transgressions soured their relationship and opened healing wounds.

Hulk roared at Stark who kept a safe distance in the air shooting repulsor blasts and infuriating quips at him. Banner’s subconscious restraint was barely noticeable compared to what it usually was, and Hulk knew he could not kill Stark, but faced no opposition in the attempt to teach him a lesson. Hulk grabbed the tail end of a jet beside him and swung like a batter at Stark. The metal man had speed over him and easily avoided the jet, but Hulk used the distraction to throw a cargo load at him which knocked Stark from the sky. He jumped at Stark, but the man hit him in the face with another stinging blast and he stumbled back roaring in annoyance. Hulk watched Stark rocket back into the air shouting another mocking jibe back at him before flying off into the stormy clouds.

Hulk grunted as he swatted at the rain that pelted his face and huffed defeatedly. He stood on the tarmac, clenching and unclenching his fists, still feeling the anger boiling over and now stuck with no target to channel it at. He swung a punch towards the next nearby jet and watched it go skidding over the side of the helicarrier. He pounded his fists into the black top beneath him feeling nothing but empty satisfaction at the impact craters forming under his hands. He looked up towards one of the other ammunition loads strapped and bolted to the ground deciding it as his next target. He stalked over to the load and raised his left hand like he was about to swat a fly when static across the communication bud in his ear interrupted his assault. He shook his head at the irritating sound and growled as he smacked at his ear when he heard the little one’s voice.

“ _Avengers, if you can hear me… I think I found a clue.”_

Hulk looked over to the broken window on the command deck and hummed in displeasure. The static continued as her voice cut out, waiting for a reply from one of them. No one else spoke and Hulk ground his teeth in frustration, unable to respond. He could hear the timid tone in Kamala’s voice, but his mind was still clouded by fresh rage and he kicked out at the ammunition load, causing three of the straps to snap free. When Kamala’s voice came through the comms again, he paused at the sadness in her voice.

“ _Look, I know I messed up.”_

Hulk looked towards the command deck as he listened to the little one’s words. “ _I wanted to blame AIM so bad for what happened to me on A-Day it blinded me.”_

He grunted at her words. Hulk had berated Banner for his foolish connection to that evil woman and his blindness to her intentions in the beginning. The other one had thought Hulk’s antagonizing emotions were a result of jealousy, and Hulk receded to the crevices of Banner’s psyche, unwilling to comply with the other one’s ridiculous reasoning. The woman was a witch, and he knew inevitably that Banner would suffer for it. The falling out between Banner and the woman had left a crack in his and the doctor’s mutual trust. Hulk knew that what happened to Kamala and those thousands of Inhumans was an internal, never-ending, tug-of-war for Banner. The other one blamed himself as much as he blamed the others.

Now, every time Banner looked at Kamala, a swell of guilt and anger rolled across their emotional connection, but that shame was buffed by a swell of determination. A determination that Hulk had not sensed in the other one for a long time. The little one was not to blame for anything, Banner and he understood this, and it made him angry to think she thought she had made a mistake of any kind.

She saved them from their exile and the darkness, and they were both indebted to her for it.

Kamala’s voice grew more desperate. “ _But Cap must have had a good reason for doing what he did. I know it.”_ She paused. _“People… People believe in the Avengers. Not because of your cool powers, but - but because no matter how bad things get, no matter how much you disagree, you always come together. Don’t you get it? Your differences are your greatest superpower.”_

There was radio static again as she waited. No one responded again and Hulk mulled over her question. He exhaled hard through his nose as he begrudgingly agreed with her words. When everyone saw him as a monster, the Avengers saw him as a hero and gave him the opportunity to do good. That goodness that the little one spoke about, her words that impacted him so much more than she or Banner understood.

Kamala’s voice lost that bit of desperation as it grew quiet, sad and lonely. “ _I was just, some weird kid from Jersey who didn’t fit in.”_

Hulk did not want the little one to be sad or lonely, and he jumped across the tarmac towards the command deck. He listened to Kamala as he trudged along the slick black top and towards the destroyed windows. “ _But you saw me for who I really was. You accepted me. There’s still a bad guy out there, who wants to hurt the world. But we can stop him. Good isn’t a thing you are… it's a thing you do.”_

Hulk jumped onto the command deck as the little one finished her speech and the comms buzzed in his ear. Kamala’s words had stirred Banner’s mind to the surface and Hulk fought him for one moment. Just one more moment to look at Kamala and watch a little hope gleam through the haze of loneliness in her eyes. The other one was awake now and with reluctance, Hulk let go of the reigns and allowed his mind to surrender over to the doctor.

~

Bruce let out a shuddering breath as he kneeled on the ground and his sense of awareness came back like a snapping rubber band. The last time he hadn’t willingly invited the Hulk to take over he had been shot in Olympia and coming down from that high was always unpleasant. He looked up as Kamala came around the war table and knelt by his side. There was an uncertain weariness in her eyes and the little snippets of Hulk’s subconscious spilled into his thoughts. Kamala’s words seared across his mind and he looked away from her, unable to meet her eyes. “I’m sorry…”

He glanced over as her eyes looked to the ground. “I shouldn’t have said…”

Bruce bit his tongue. He couldn’t make himself admit to the awful things he had just done. Words twisted like a noose in his mind as he wrestled with the overwhelming guilt and his pathetic half-apologies. He had made her an example and had practically ripped away the self-esteem he had helped her build.

“ _You accepted me…”_

He grimaced as those words replayed over in his mind. Bruce remembered telling her to accept the powers she had, and reassuring her she was doing the right thing. He had connected with her feelings of being an outcast and feeling alone. A freak. He closed his eyes, as if shutting them would shut away the memories, too. He basically turned around and slapped all her insecurities in her face when he said that she couldn’t be cured… couldn’t be _fixed_. He had seen the look on her face when he said it and it stung him, but he couldn’t imagine what it had done to her. Betrayal, he knew that well, and he had betrayed her.

Kamala shook her head. “Hm… I get it.”

Bruce opened his mouth, ready to argue that she shouldn’t just accept it, but the sound of thrusters interrupted him and Tony flew through the broken windows landing in front of them. Kamala stood up and Bruce pushed himself to his feet, holding the SHIELD jacket around him. Bruce lowered his head a little as Tony walked towards them with his chin up. He walked over to Kamala and sniffled, surprising Bruce until he said, “Altitude… dry eyes.”

Bruce’s lips twitched at a smile, but he frowned when Tony turned towards him. He was ready for the man to continue his barrage of insults and criticism, but instead Tony’s voice came out strained and his face twisted uncomfortably.

“Look, I’m not very good at… I’m sorry, so.”

Bruce nodded. He understood Tony’s struggle. There was still the rawness of the past between them and an apology seemed a long way from what they really needed between each other. He looked up at Tony sympathetically, eyes darting around to anywhere, but his friend’s. “Same.”

“Good enough. Yeah. So, you um, found a clue?” Tony quickly changed the subject, for which Bruce was grateful.

Kamala perked up at Tony’s question and beckoned them to the war table. “Yeah, it’s the interview.”

Tony looked over at Bruce, both a little unsure what she could’ve gained from the interrogation that went awry. They gathered around her as she pulled up the audio and fast-forwarded to the end. “Listen…”

“ _Scour the Earth, you will not find our lab._ ”

Bruce didn’t frown, not wanting Kamala to feel worse for what she hoped was a clue. He was curious though, to how she thought this sentence alone contained the answer.

“Okay…” he mumbled, looking at Kamala expectedly.

She smiled, like it was obvious. “Monica’s right. The lab’s not on Earth.”

“I’m not following,” Tony said behind her, crossing his arms.

She turned to look at him and then shook her hands as she quickly explained. “Okay, when I was captured, Monica and Tarleton had this argument. Tarleton had to leave the room. And the Monica pulled up the coordinates to this satellite called, “Ambrosia.”

She looked up at Bruce, hoping what she was saying would make any sense. Bruce thought for a moment, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where he remembered hearing the name. Tony spoke up then, putting the pieces together. “‘Ambrosia?’ That was a SHIELD bio-medical research project.”

Bruce leaned back against the war table as the gears in his mind started turning. Tony continued, looking up between Bruce and Kamala, “AIM must have acquired it during the takeover.”

Kamala’s smile brightened, swiveling her head from one man to the other. “It would be a great place to hide proof of Inhuman experiments, right?”

Her voice was hopeful as he and Tony nodded in agreement. “If you wanted to study Inhumans on the cellular level then...”

He paused, looking up at Kamala and Tony. “Zero gravity would be a perfect place to do it.”

Tony nodded, and then smirked at Kamala. “Good job.”

Bruce looked away, pushing himself off the war table when Kamala smiled brightly at Tony’s praise. He still felt horrible for the things he had said and he didn’t know how to apologize. It seemed all he did was take a step back when he finally did something good with her. He needed a minute to collect his thoughts as Tony started going over whatever damage there was. He pulled the jacket closer around him and headed for the science lab.

It was warmer in the lab without the broken command deck windows letting in gusts of cold, wet air. The lab, thankfully, hadn’t suffered too much during the AIM attack and he bent down picking up some scattered papers on the ground. It would take a while to figure out what was missing or disorganized, but busy work had always been good for settling his mind. He put the papers on the table beside him and sighed heavily, running a hand down his face. There was a throbbing headache forming behind his eyes and Hulk rumbled with displeasure behind the metaphorical door between them. He was unhappy with Banner, again. Bruce could feel his annoyance grating along the emotional wavelength they shared and he welcomed the feeling. He was annoyed himself, with himself and with the whole situation.

“I know,” he whispered out loud.

There was a hiss behind him and he turned around as the doors slid open. Kamala took a tentative step into the lab, looking around at the mess and frowning as she bent over to pick up another discarded page. The doors closed behind her and she looked up at him, linking her arms behind her back and swiveling nervously. He hoped she hadn’t picked that up from him, he knew the others sometimes found the unconscious tick distracting, and the last thing he needed to pass on to her was his anxious habits, too.

“Hey,” she mumbled.

Bruce’s shoulders deflated. “Hey.”

Kamala’s eyes darted to the ground, thinking of what to say next as she stepped closer. She looked up at him when she reached his side and leaned down to peer up at his fallen face. Her eyebrows pinched in concern. “Are you okay?”

He considered, for a split second, lying. He wanted to assure her and praise her for her discovery as Tony had. Bruce didn’t want to burden her with his mental battle, he was her mentor, she shouldn’t have to worry about his woes on top of everything else on her plate. The doctor knew though, that lying would only worsen his slip back into darkness and shame, not to mention exacerbate the fresh wound to the trust between them, so he was honest.

“No,” he sighed.

He leaned back against the desk, crossing his arms and shaking his head as he mumbled ‘no’ again. Kamala looked down at the paper in her hand before placing it on the stack he set aside and lifting herself onto the edge of the table next to him. Bruce watched her legs swing back and forth as they waited in the silence. She didn’t push him to explain and he appreciated her patience, but she deserved more than that. He opened his mouth to finally say something when she interrupted him. “My dad told me once, that when I was born my brother said I had googly eyes.”

Bruce looked over to her, raising an eyebrow. “W-what?”

She laughed. “That’s what I said.”

He didn’t quite understand where she meant to go with this, but the statement and her laugh made him smile. Kamala’s face softened, eyes growing hazy as she became lost to the memory for a moment and then smiled up at him. “He told me to be proud of who I was because everyone is unique…”

“He’s not wrong,” Bruce said softly.

“You kinda told me the same thing once, too.”

Bruce’s hands curled around his arms as he looked away. He closed his eyes as a swell of suffocating shame weighed heavy on his chest, but then he felt a gentle pressure on his arm. Kamala squeezed his shoulder and he raised his head. She gave him a half smile as she continued. “I know what you said was out of anger at Tony.” She paused, face twisting. “I won’t pretend it didn’t hurt, but I do understand. I’m not angry, or upset. I’ve said some pretty awful things to you too, back at the Ant Hill, and I know I haven’t been the easiest protege to deal with. But that doesn’t mean you have to beat yourself up over it. I don’t _hate_ you for being honest.”

Bruce felt a considerable weight lift off himself when she said that. He hadn’t really thought she would hate him, but the past five years of his isolation and broken relationships had left him insecure. He still worried and doubted that taking on the role of her mentor was a mistake for her benefit, but she kept coming back and reassuring him. Part of him felt a shame from that, being so broken and trying to help her pick up her own pieces, but he wanted to try. She made him feel determined and gave him a reason to keep fighting beyond the support of the Avengers. She was teaching him, slowly, to rely on himself because if he couldn’t do that, how could he expect her to rely on him?

“I - I’m sorry, for being so harsh,” he said, meeting her eyes and hoping she saw his genuine apology.

“Already forgiven, doc. But just so we’re clear, I’m not sick…”

Bruce nodded.

“…I don’t need to be cured…”

He nodded again.

“And I don’t need to be _fixed._ ”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he smirked.

She beamed at him, nodding once and then looking down at her lap still smiling with her hand on his shoulder. He reached up, laying his hand over hers and smiled to himself. It wasn’t perfect, there was a lot he still wanted to say, and a lot of things he still was nervous about, but for now it would do. After this was over, he would say the things he really needed to say.

“So… googly eyes, eh?”

Kamala’s hand slipped away as she hit his shoulder and he chuckled. She laughed with him and then surprised him by leaning her head against his shoulder. He looked over at her head, but smiled softly as he leaned his head against hers, closing his eyes. The headache started to fade and deep in his mind the Hulk was content.


	6. Mentor?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although I ship Bruce & Nat, their interaction in this story is purely friendship because I think they have a lot in common in terms of their history. (That said, if you ship them by all means enjoy!)

Bruce woke up trying to catch his breath. He was startled for a moment, not used to the steady thrum of the helicarrier’s engines outside his window. It felt strange to have moved back to this room. He wasn’t exactly sure where Hulk had curled up to sleep, when he did, and he felt like an intruder in his own space. Frankly, he felt like an intruder in his own body. All his senses still felt new and fresh, they hadn’t really gotten a chance to dull because of the missions he and Kamala had been running. There was something nostalgic about the transformations for missions again. He always felt some semblance of control and camaraderie with Hulk when he invited the Big Guy to take over, instead of losing control. Right now, he was cursing the heightened awareness as he placed a hand over his pounding heart.

The doctor was no stranger to bad dreams, in fact he accepted them like he would a toxic friend’s company. They varied, some simple bad memories or Avenger adventures gone bad. Others were… well, worse. Bruce knew these _worse_ ones like the back of his hand, but they still had teeth and they still left him shaken. This dream, or rather _nightmare_ , was new. He hadn’t been ready for it because he hadn’t really expected it, but it left him breathless and filled with dread. The memory it had been conjured from was barely two days old and part of him wondered if he was still living it.

He threw the blankets off of him and twisted so he could plant his feet on the floor. He hissed as the cold surface sucked the warmth from his skin and sent goosebumps popping up over his arms. The lights in the room brightened in response to his awakened state and he groped at the shelf beside his bed for his glasses. Bruce ran a hand over his face and groaned tiredly before sliding his glasses on. He rested his head in his hands and ground his fingers into his hair. He looked over to the computer next to him and noticed the time was well into the early hours of the next day. The sun would be up soon and it didn’t seem likely that he would get any good rest before that.

Bruce stood up, rubbing at his arms to warm away the chill and grabbed a pullover from the trunk at the end of his bed. He needed something to wake him up and he hoped that the new SHIELD agents aboard would’ve stocked the kitchen. But first he needed to reassure his racing mind that his dream was just that, a dream.

The central quarters was empty and the lights in the labs were off, meaning Tony was definitely asleep. He was grateful for that, not in the mood to deal with Tony right now and his overinflated ego. The man’s head had grown three sizes bigger ever since the _Chimera_ went up into the air and Bruce avoided him like the plague. He glanced over at Natasha’s door, wondering if the spy was still awake or not. She had gone on a tirade earlier, yelling and ranting to everyone within earshot about the mess in her room. Kamala had offered to help her clean, but she had quickly curled up and fell asleep on the bean bag in Nat’s room half-way through. Bruce, in his initial panic about what happened, demanded she sit for tests so he could be sure Monica hadn’t poisoned her with anything else. Luckily, it was just a heavy tranquilizer and she woke up briefly to eat something before heading to her own room to sleep off the rest of the drugs.

This is where Bruce ventured to before heading to the common area. He stood in front of her closed door, contemplating whether or not to open it. He looked around, hoping that no one was there to see him standing there in his wrinkled pajamas and bed head. It was quiet and dark so he felt safe enough to open the door. He grimaced as it hissed and slid open, letting soft colorful lights spill into the hallway. He could see into the room from the doorway even in the low light and he exhaled slowly at the sight of the bundled up form on the bed next to the window. Kamala’s back rose and fell steadily as she slept, clearly dead to the world thanks to the heavy drugs and the exhaustion of embiggening. He crossed his arms and slumped against the side of doorframe just watching her rest, content with knowing that she was here and that she was okay.

“You’re up early, Doc.”

He jumped what felt like ten feet and clamped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from shouting and waking the sleeping teenager. He plastered his back against the frame and moved his hand down over his heart, which was threatening to burst from his chest. Natasha smirked and crossed her arms looking up at him, clearly pleased she had nearly given him a heart attack. Ever the master assassin, he had not heard a single sound from the redhead when she decided to sneak up on him. He crossed his arms, squeezing his eyes shut after catching the flash of green in his lenses and looked at her wearily, almost growling. “I _didn’t_ miss that.”

“Still had to make sure my skills aren’t rusty,” she said shrugging.

He laughed mechanically. “Sure. Five years of undercover work and you’re testing them now?”

She flashed him a grin before looking into Kamala’s room. He glanced over, making sure they hadn’t waken her and took a breath when she snored softly.

Natasha hummed. “Sleeping like a log. Wish I could do that.”

“Midazolam, and a cocktail of other sedatives, sure help,” Bruce said, his tone clipped with anger.

Nat didn’t look at him as she spoke. “It’s not your fault, you know?”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t agree with her, but the last thing he wanted to do was to debate whose fault it was with Nat. He was still adjusting to her return and while he hadn’t sensed any animosity from her like he had with Tony, he wasn’t ready to argue and find out. Bruce knew Natasha didn’t bring up the past unless necessary, she always looked straight ahead and let what happened, happen. He envied her for this, but at the same time always suspected she still held onto a lot of what she claimed she let go of. She was always professional though, and didn’t let it get in the way of her job when it came down to it. He remembered, with a little sadness, that they would talk in the past, never breaching anything too deep, but finding a common ground with their messed up childhoods and where they stood in other people’s eyes. An assassin and a monster, not exactly the shining bright stars of a superhero team by any standards.

“She’s an interesting one,” Natasha sighed, cocking her head to the side.

Bruce smiled a little, ducking his head and nodding. “Yeah… she is.”

Nat looked up at him and her eyes sparkled like they did when she found a piece of information she was looking for. “I think it’s good you know. It’s a good thing.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh, I’m sorry, you’ve lost me.”

She rolled her eyes and nodded towards Kamala, leaning back against the other side of the door frame. “You mentoring her.”

Bruce opened his mouth and then closed it. He laughed sardonically and shook his head. “I’m - I’m not…”

His voice trailed off at the look on Nat’s face that said she wouldn’t believe him. Bruce’s shoulders deflated and he swallowed uncomfortably under her stare, looking back towards Kamala and frowning. “I can’t help her, Nat. What happened proves just that.”

Natasha snorted. “Being a mentor doesn’t mean she’s going to listen to every word you say likes its the law. Do you know how many times I went against Fury and Clint when I first joined SHIELD? Landed up in some tight situations, but I learned. She needs to make the mistakes, and you just need to be there to pick her back up when she does.”

Bruce’s face screwed up as he thought about what Natasha said. “I can barely pick myself back up, Nat.”

The Black Widow moved her head side to side, looking up at the ceiling and considered his words and her response. Bruce looked at her out of the corner of his eye, silently hoping she might offer him an assurance, for what, he wasn’t sure. Part of him hoped she would say that he was right and it was a horrible idea and to stay away, but another part of him hoped she would tell him the opposite.

“I think that you definitely suck in the self-esteem department and - thats why you’re the best person to mentor her.”

“Thats not exactly inspiring.”

“It’s honest, and that’s what you are. She doesn’t need Tony to fill her head with delusions of grandeur about the “hero” life. She needs someone who is gonna break the hard stuff to her first, and then teach her to be humble about the good stuff when it comes. We don’t lead easy lives, contrary to Tony’s rose tinted view of adoration and praise. She loves the Avengers, but it’s good she learns about the people behind the masks and capes, before she’s swept into the public eye, because one day she will be.”

Bruce frowned. He knew what she said was true, but it made him worry more. Kamala could never have a normal life again, and he hated seeing that happen to her. He had learned to come to peace with saying goodbye to normal, even if he did curse his own existence on bad days. He didn’t want her to hate herself for being different and not like her friends and family. He would give anything to make sure she didn’t feel the way he did.

“I also think she’s good for you, too.”

He looked back up at Nat and she gave him one of her rare genuine smiles. “Why’d you come to check on her?”

Bruce glanced over to the common room where beyond that was Monica. Waiting to be interrogated and he was starting to suspect the others planned on him doing the interrogating. He wasn’t ready to tackle those thoughts just yet and instead found his mind drawn back towards the nightmare that brought him here. Natasha waited patiently for him to answer and he sighed. “I had a dream…”

“Those suck.”

He huffed, nodding his head and looking at his bare feet, toes now numbed from the cold ground. “I was back in the Ant Hill. One of the Inhumans telling us she was - gone. They had helped her go and I was - _christ Nat,_ I was two seconds away from letting Hulk ring the kid’s neck. I, um — it was the worst sense of dread I’ve felt since…“

He left the unspoken hang in the air between them as she nodded slowly in understanding. He didn’t want to bring up A-Day and Steve’s death, it still felt raw even five years later now, but Bruce had nothing else to compare the feeling with. Waking up to Kamala gone and knowing where she went reminded him of standing on that bridge and watching the _Chimera_ explode. The fear was suffocating and all he could think was she had walked into her death trying to help others just like Cap had. Even now he had to lift his head and make sure she was still sleeping, safe, in her bed and not _gone._

Bruce’s voice was strained when he spoke again. “I just had to make sure she was - here.”

“The kid’s okay and we have our lead because of what she did. I don’t think she’ll be sneaking off again any time soon after what Monica put her through. She was ready to give up and go home when I found her. The whole thing rattled her pretty bad.”

“She’s not safe here,” he said.

“She’s on AIM’s radar now. She’s not safe anywhere, but she is safer with us then she would be at home with no back up. I was prepared to drag her back kicking and screaming if I had to, but she’s smart. She just needs some time and a little help,” Natasha stressed laying a hand on Bruce shoulder.

He nodded. “Thanks Nat.”

“The sun’s gonna start popping up soon. Coffee?” She asked.

“Uh, if there’s tea…”

“Got it. You coming?” She asked, looking over shoulder as she started heading for the common room.

“In a minute, I just, uh —“ Bruce mumbled looking between Nat and Kamala.

“I’ll leave the pot on the burner and try to find something edible,” she called back, waving and disappearing into the common room.

Bruce turned back to Kamala’s room as the girl turned over in her sleep facing the door. He smirked at the blue eye piece sitting crookedly over her face, ready to go if the alarm sounded. She shifted again and the blanket slid from her shoulders pooling on the ground. He bit his lip, looking over his shoulder and then quietly padded into the room. He hoped he could emulate a little of Natasha’s silent footwork as he crossed over to the sleeping teen. Kamala still slept on, undisturbed and he smiled a little proudly for the accomplishment. He bent down picking up the blanket and draping it back over her shoulders. When that didn’t wake her up, he reached down to the side of her head and pulled off the crooked mask successfully. She burrowed her nose deeper into the pillow and mumbled something incoherent in her sleep. He smiled softly and brushed away a piece a hair threatening to tickle her nose and potentially end her peace. Satisfied that she was warm, and not about to wake from anymore rogue strands of hair, he slipped out of the room and the door slid shut behind him.

He found Natasha sitting at the large wrap around booth with a mug of coffee in her hands and eyes narrowed at the news. The AIM experience was supposed to be happening tonight and they would be unveiling their new set of advanced robots, the Adaptiods. It made him feel sick to think about all the Inhumans they had killed to harvest the powers for their project. _Monica’s_ project.

And Kamala had almost been her next victim.

Bruce’s hand clenched around the handle of the mug and he looked over at the packets of coffee next to the tea Natasha had left out for him. He decided he might need the extra boost of energy if he was going to face his ex- _psychopathic_ -girlfriend later on and poured a packet of instant coffee into the hot water. He put two packets of sugar into the cup and then joined Natasha at the table. She didn’t say anything as she passed over the milk, eyes never leaving the screen above them and sipped at her own drink. He leaned forward on the table, looking up at at the tv when it switched to the weather and then scratched at his cheek and the rough stubble around the edges of his beard.

“You should shave,” Natasha said bluntly, blowing at the steam curling from her drink.

“You think?” He asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking against the rim of his mug.

She looked at him, completely straight faced, as she said, “You look like a caveman.”

He choked on the hot liquid, and she smirked at another triumphant win for startling him. He shook his head, raising his glass in salute, “Can’t say I didn’t miss your subtlety, Nat.”

“You’re welcome, Doc.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to explore the idea of when Bruce really started, formally, thinking of himself as Kamala's mentor. Plus I noticed in the game that he shaves before he interrogates Monica and it irked me to think he did it FOR her. Much prefer some one telling him to do it than trying to "look good" for your psychotic ex that almost killed your protege/"daughter". If it wasn't clear, I hate Monica.


	7. Research

Bruce walked down from the command deck towards the central quarters enjoying the quiet morning. The SHIELD agents are relieving the night shifts and there is a faint smell of coffee wafting through the air. He yawns into his fist and greets the agent standing around the smaller war table in the middle of central quarters. Bruce has learned to slowly be more social with their company aboard the  Chimera  thanks to Kamala. He was never rude to the SHIELD agents, but it took a good year or so to convince his anxious mind that they weren’t there just to keep an eye on him when he first joined the Avengers Initiative. He used to think of them as shadows occupying the same room and he gave them their space. Kamala made the effort to socialize with them and the ecosystem of the helicarrier seemed much more productive for it. 

Bruce adjusted the tablet under his arm as he walked up the stairs. It was still early enough on a Saturday where Kamala wouldn’t be up for another hour or two. She had arrived late last night and only managed to stumble into the lab to say hello and then goodnight before heading for bed. He hoped they wouldn’t have a mission today so she could sleep for a little longer, considering missions had been particularly grueling the past couple of days. He already had to worry about was her habit of passing out during battle, and he didn’t want to worry about it stemming from lack of proper sleep. Bruce passed her quarters and stopped in front of Steve’s room knocking twice on the door. 

The Captain was usually an early riser and was one of the first team members Bruce saw mulling about the space. Natasha was usually up early as well, but everyone knew to stay away from her until she had her second cup of coffee. Thor was never predictable about when he woke up, sometimes he didn’t sleep at all, and Tony and Kamala were always the last ones up. He waited until he heard Steve’s voice beckon him in and placed his hand on the scanner. The door slid open and he walked into the room, moving the tablet under his arm into one hand. He had updates from Hank that he thought Cap should see and decided to hand them over early so Cap could start planning for the day. 

He saw Steve sitting on the couch, stretched out and still dressed in sweats and a t-shirt, looking relaxed. Yet, Bruce noticed he looked a little befuddled as he looked down at a book in his lap with intense concentration. Bruce looked down beside the couch and there was a stack of books with little post-it note tabs sticking out of the sides in various colors. The book on top was facing down so he couldn’t see the title of it and Steve lowered the book in his hands onto his lap so Bruce couldn’t see the title of that one either. Cap smiled up at him and turned on the couch so his feet were planted on the floor. 

  
“Good morning, Bruce,” He said.

“Morning, Cap,” Bruce responded.

Steve’s eyes flickered to the tablet in Bruce’s hand. “Did you need something?”

Bruce held out the tablet and Steve took it from him touching the screen to turn it on. “Hank sent these over last night. Some labs and weapon caches that the Resistance scouted out.”

Steve hummed low and thoughtful, brows furrowing as he swiped down the list. “They seem to be cropping up faster than we take them down, huh?”

Bruce nodded in agreement, crossing his arms and looking about the room. He glanced over the knickknacks and books, grimacing at the boxes of things Natasha had recovered from a museum and returned to Cap. Bruce looked back down at the books and cleared his throat, drawing Steve’s attention back up to him. “Whatcha reading, Cap?”

Steve blinked at him, the question not quite registering until it did and Bruce watched his cheeks flush red. The super soldier looked like a child with his hand stuck in the cookie jar. He rubbed at the back of his neck as he placed the tablet beside him and shrugged. “Research.” He coughed out, trying to sound not as embarrassed as he looked and Bruce raised an eyebrow. “What, uh, kind of research?”

“It’s, well, it’s — I thought that now that we have a chi-  teenager aboard that we could benefit from learning how to take care… of one…” Cap stammered, voice trailing off at the end.

It was Bruce’s turn to blink owlishly as he tried to wrap his mind around what Steve was saying. He looked back down at the stack of books and reached down for the copy laying on top. The plastic jacket crinkled in his hands as he turned it over and both brows shot up in surprise. The cover was of two kids playing outside and the title read  101 Ways to Ensure a Healthy Foundation for Your Child.  Bruce reached down then and picked up each book reading the titles:  Positive Parenting, The Psychology of the Young Adult, How to Talk to Your Kids, Parenting Teens with Love and Logic,  and the ever classic , Parenting for Dummies. 

Bruce looked up at Steve who was looking away with his arms crossed, face still bright pink. Bruce didn’t know what to say. The intentions were genuine, but at the same time it was hilarious to think that the leader of the Avengers, who had been alive double Bruce’s life, was reading  parenting  books. Cap looked up at him, waiting for Bruce’s assessment, and Bruce couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped. Steve rolled his eyes and Bruce shook his head holding up a hand to say wait and not jump to conclusions. He took a deep breath and held up both his hands in surrender. “I don’t think it’s a  bad  idea at all.”

“You don’t?” Steve asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“No, but I don’t think anyone has ever written a book on dealing with a teenage superhero,” Bruce said, smirking and crossing his arms.

“That tiger mom book seemed pretty close enough to me,” Steve said with a small shudder.

Bruce laughed. Steve stood up holding out his hands as he tried to explain. “Look, I know I sound like ‘a dad’, both Kamala and Tony said so, but I just think we could all benefit from making sure Kamala has as much structure from her second ‘family’ unit as she can get. She’s pointed out that she doesn’t need to have normalcies, but we could keep up certain routines and consistencies. Rules. Discipline. Stuff like that.”

“We can’t exactly ground her if she misbehaves…” Bruce said, looking at Steve a little apprehensive about his intentions.

“I know that, but we can provide a little more for her beyond training. I suggested to Tony that we start having dinner as a team once a week. It would be good for her, and the team would benefit from it, too,” Steve argued.

Bruce thought about what he was saying and he couldn’t disagree. He worried himself about the repercussions of this life on Kamala’s development. They weren’t exactly star role models for stable and mentally healthy adults. Bruce always doubted his ability as her mentor and feared he was doing more damage than good some days. He was always asking her about her relationships with her family and friends, knowing the painful fallout of cutting ties and the blowback of those lost connections. She assured them that she spent a plenty amount of time socializing outside of them, but of course he still worried and probably wouldn’t ever stop worrying. Maybe Steve was right, they could all benefit from a little more structure.

“Could I, uh, borrow one of those…?” Bruce mumbled, eyes flickering over to the stack he placed on the couch.

Steve grinned, grabbing the whole pile and placing it back in Bruce’s arms. “I’ll pass on the next one when I finish it.” 

~

“What on Earth are you two doing?” 

Bruce looked up at the incredulous tone of one Tony Stark and the former billionaire crossed his arms. He was still wearing the suit meaning he, Thor, Kamala and Nat must’ve just returned from their mission. Steve had taken the opportunity to pass along some more books and the two men found themselves in the Science Lab reading into the later hours. Bruce checked his watch and cringed at the time, but Steve was too busy trying to explain to Tony what they were doing.

“Research,” Steve said, as he had once answered Bruce.

“This is ridiculous. You two “dads” need to cool it on the books before Kamala catches you,” Tony warned.

“Do you think she’d be upset?” Steve asked, looking between Tony and Bruce with a hint of concern.

“No, but she’ll laugh about this and torture you till the end of time. And  Parenting for Dummies,  seriously?” Tony asked, pointing at said book laying on top of the pile between them.

“It was actually very informational,” Steve said.

Tony looked at a loss for words. Bruce hid a chuckle, shaking his head and dog earring the page he was on. Tony looked at him next and the doctor shrugged, holding up the book. “It’s not so bad.”

“I swear to god if either one of you starts making ‘dad jokes’ I will have you committed.”


	8. The Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to add a small warning because there's two curse words in this chapter, just in case that makes anyone uncomfortable :)

_What’s going on? Where am I? Who... am I?_

Bruce. Bruce Banner. That’s what his name was. _God,_ everything hurt. His whole body just ached and his head pounded against his skull like a jackhammer.

Bruce opened his eyes, cringing at the harsh light as if he had been stuck in the dark for years and was seeing the sun for the first time. A breeze kicked up sand and he winced as it bit at his skin. Wherever he was it was dry, hot and miserable. Perfect, a setting to match how he felt.

He groaned as he forced himself onto his side and tried to push himself up. He could feel the pins and needles in his arms as the adrenaline and the “rage high” faded from his system. Bruce pressed his forehead against the ground and sighed. It was like he was new to this all over again.

The world around him spun a little before stopping and he was better able to make sense of his surroundings. He was on the _Chimera,_ total and absolute destruction littered the tarmac and he groaned again. Of course, why should he expect to see anything intact when he woke up.

He managed to push himself up and thanked whoever was out there that his belt was still in one piece, albeit a bit stretched. He pulled off the remains of his purple shirt hanging from his forearms and slid his feet under him so he was kneeling.

He was surprised to see robots amongst the wreckage. They didn’t look like any of Tony’s creations and upon closer inspection he saw the AIM symbol printed on the metal. What was AIM doing with robots? And why had they sent them out here?

Bruce wondered if they were looking for him, but then why would they be?

It was too much to think about right now. He needed to get inside and grab some new clothes, if they hadn’t turned to dust that is. He managed to get to his feet and leaned forward on his knees while he caught his breath. The blood went from his head to his limbs in dizzying rush.

Bruce turned to the doors of the helicarrier, but the stopped when something red caught his eye. There was something — _someone_ , laying amongst the remains of the AIM robots. He stumbled towards the body and felt a surge of fear that whoever it was, was dead. He took a breath of relief when he saw their chest rise and fall, but was struck by another startling observation. It was... a child?

He kneeled down next to the girl and reached down for her wrist. Bruce sought out her pulse, pressing two fingers against her skin and exhaling when he felt the slow, but steady fluttering. Whoever she was, she must’ve passed out.

He frowned looking down at her face and deciding she couldn’t have been older than 18. She was wearing a Captain Marvel t-shirt and her bag was littered with Avengers pins. Great, a fan. But what was she doing out here? How did she find this place? He looked around to the robot carnage and frowned at the blast marks covering the area. They weren’t exactly friendly looking, and he doubted whatever this girl was doing here, that she had brought them as company. So, either they were looking for him or they had followed her here?

He looked back down at the unconscious girl and ran a hand down his face, groaning. He couldn’t leave her here, but every signal in his mind was screaming to walk away. He had just transformed back from who knows how long, and he didn’t have quite the same grip on his sanity. The last thing he wanted to do was put the girl in danger and he didn’t trust himself not to snap at the littlest annoyance. Despite the little voice in the back of his mind telling him this was a bad idea, he knew leaving her out here would be worse.

Bruce shook out his arms, feeling the last of static numbness leave his muscles and reached down to pull the girl up into his arms. She wasn’t heavy per se, but his weakened body protested against the strain and his limbs trembled with the effort. The doctor grit his teeth and adjusted the teenager so he could could settle most of her weight against his chest instead of his weak arms.

“Alright Banner, you can do this…”

He managed to maneuver around the debris and wreckage and exhaled in relief when he saw the door to the interior wrenched open. The shade of the inside helped, and he felt better about climbing the steps to the command deck in the cooler setting. Bruce’s head swam with the slowly emerging playback of the Hulk’s latest memories. A lot of the images were hazy, but he could make out the battle against the robots outside. When he reached the command deck he caught glimpses of Hulk’s encounter with the girl. He remembered vaguely someone calling for him earlier, but he had been so entrenched within his subconscious that it hadn’t registered. He headed for the lab, which he hoped was still intact, and let out another breath of relief when he found everything where he had left it, just a bit, or rather, very dusty.

Bruce placed the girl on a wide cot next to one of the tables and dropped into one of the seats breathing heavily. He leaned back spinning slowly around to survey the state of the lab and frowned at the decrepit. He honestly didn’t know what he had been hoping for, and certainly the last thing expected would be Hulk tidying up the place. He glanced back at the girl, still sleeping on the cot behind him and rubbed at the back of his neck. He could afford to leave her for a few minutes and find himself something to wear that was more - intact.

The doctor pushed himself from the seat with a grunt of effort and shuffled back out to the command deck. He waved a hand in the air in front of his face, coughing at the floating dust which tickled at his throat and burned his nose. He needed to find his glasses, or the spares, if he still had any left. Thankfully, the main doors were still working and he entered the central quarters, maneuvering around the abandoned cargo. He pulled a face at a pile sitting atop the smaller intel table in the center of the room and squinted his eyes at a precariously put together tower of vintage vinyl sleeves, that looked suspiciously like Tony’s.

_“_ Um, okay. I didn’t do that…” he mumbled to himself, eyes staying on the table like he half expected someone to jump out and prank him.

Bruce had to use a little strength to pull open his door, it hadn’t been stuck all the way shut, but it was wedged half-way open from the dirt buildup. He winced as it banged noisily when it gave way and he looked over his shoulder as the sound echoed, hauntingly through the _Chimera_. He took a deep breath and held it, waiting.

Nothing. There was no one else here, he was alone.

Bruce’s shoulders deflated with the weight of this unsurprising revelation. He knew it was foolish to expect anyone to be there, but some part of him had held out hope that someone would’ve come. Maybe just to check on him? Make sure he wasn’t dead. Maybe they didn’t even care if he was…

He shook his head of those thoughts. He didn’t hate his friends, even if they hated him, and deep down he knew they wouldn’t wish for his death. He had testified that they were dangerous, but they weren’t _evil._ Tony had seemed to construe his statement as such, and made it clear with his stone cold silence, that he didn’t care at all for seeing Bruce’s side of things. They had the capacity to do harm, despite their good deeds, Bruce most of all and this was he meant. Tony just didn’t seem to think of it like that, and the others were still raw from Steve’s - death, and their shared failure, that his words had been the severing wound that divided them. So, he shouldn’t expect anyone to come along with groceries and a newspaper and ask him about his day.

Bruce managed to find a clean purple shirt in one of the drawers of his room that thankfully survived the worst of the dust. In the bottom drawer, he procured a pair of dark gray trousers and a new belt. So far so good, he thought. Luckily, he had been smart enough to remove the shoes he was wearing before - going to sleep. He found them tucked beneath his bed where he left them and fresh socks - or unworn at least, because he couldn’t say they were fresh exactly - balled up in the left shoe. He exhaled slowly, finally feeling a little better dressed in his clothes and headed for the bathroom where he kept his spare glasses.

The doctor looked up into the mirror and used his forearm to wipe the dirty glass. He looked at his reflection and felt like he was seeing an entirely different person, or — one he had not seen in a very long time. A hand raised shakily to his face and he scratched at the rough stubble across his cheek and then tangled through the beard, tickling the pads of his fingers. Journeying up, he tugged at the longer locks of hair that brushed dangerously close to his eyes when he pulled a lock down. He sighed. He didn’t have time to shave and when he turned the water on, brown water rushed down the gurgling drain. He grimaced at the rusted smell that came from the tap and crossed that idea off his list.

Bruce looked back up at his face and into the eyes of the other person staring back. He couldn’t recognize the man he used to be anymore. All the good work he had done, the years he had spent trying to be the hero he wanted to be, the semblance of normalcy he had grown accustomed to, the fragile confidence - all gone. He was back to square one and the weight of that seemed insurmountable.

He found the spares he was looking for and took one last look in the mirror. The glasses felt like a mask, and he laughed at himself. Life had reared its ugly head and fate spat out it’s worst at him, again. It took one long look at him and decided all his effort was for nothing.

_Stop trying._

Bruce shook his head and braced himself against the basin of the sink. He started recounting all the calculations and problems he used to calm himself as he felt the rush of frustration brush the raw anger still running through his veins. The last thing he needed to do now was turn green. He directed his thoughts to the girl currently unconscious in the science lab and nodded to himself. He could start there. Bruce could make sure she was okay, maybe clear up some of the missing information in his mind, and then formulate a new plan. One which involved finding the nearest nowhere and escaping. He was good at that, that skill he still had confidence in at least.

Bruce left his room, and headed back towards the command deck and the science lab. He turned towards the lab doors when his eyes were blinded by a bright flash. He blinked rapidly, clearing the spots dancing around his vision and looked around for the source of the light. The war table was still covered, but as his eyes traveled across it to the upper half he caught sight of _it._

Cap’s shield.

Chest constricting with a sudden rush of grief that sent shivers down his spine and the air knocked from his lungs. The shield was propped up on stacked boxes and caught the light of the setting sun. The vibrainium was polished and, unlike everything in room, looked untouched by the desert surrounding them. Bruce couldn’t bare to look at the glaring memory of his beloved friend any longer and he tore his eyes away from the shield. A new sense of urgency overcame him. He needed to work out his plan of escape from here. Get far away from the place that had become Steve’s grave, as soon as he could.

He entered the science lab and looked over at the girl, who was still asleep and hadn’t moved. Whatever happened to her, she seemed to be really out of it. In the back his mind, the other guy rumbled thoughtfully. Snippets of his memory came to the forefront of his mind and Bruce raised an eyebrow. From what he could piece together, Hulk had chased her through the helicarrier when she found Cap’s shield and Hulk thought she was trying to steal it. He couldn’t blame the big guy for his actions, but he was relieved he hadn’t hurt the girl without her explaining herself first.

Bruce sat back in the chair, glancing over his shoulder once more at the girl before sliding over to the table and the overhead lights flickered on. “Thank god.”

He set about, clearing the work station, grabbing a laptop and crossing his fingers when he pressed the power button. The screen flickered on and the SHIELD logo popped up, spinning against the black screen. He pressed his palms together and sent up a prayer. He was sure Natasha or Tony would’ve called this dramatic, but he felt the need to be grateful for the little things right now, and a charged computer was definitely one of those little things.

The log-in screen came on and he entered his password, hoping no one had cleared his credentials from the network. The screen opened up and he studied the initial information on the home screen. The first thing he noticed was the date and time in the corner, and his jaw slackened a little. Although time was a little fuzzy whenever he came to, he always managed to recall a small amount of that time to work together how long he had been the other guy. But if he was reading the year currently on the screen, then….

_It had been five years?_

He pressed a hand to his mouth and leaned back in his chair. How had - five years escaped him? The longest incident he had ever had was three weeks, and that was before the Avengers. The time between him signing off and now, felt more like five days, not _five years._ He ran over numbers, chemical chains, and a plethora of knowledge to combat the impending stress and panic slowly bubbling up.

The next thing he did was pull up the Internet and research himself. It sounded like such a Tony thing to do, but he needed to reassure himself that the _Chimera_ was the only place the Hulk had been. Considering it had been five years - he still couldn’t wrap his mind around that just yet - and no one had come knocking with an arrest warrant, he felt safe. He scrolled through some articles, mostly nonsense blogs of conspiracy theorists wondering about what happened to him and the rest of the Avengers. It seemed that the others had fallen off the grid too and he felt a strange sense of solace that the others had done the same thing. There was a blog that caught his attention about the _Chimera_ and where it possibly was, with crudely drawn maps and circles of potential locations. He looked quickly at the location of the helicarrier’s position using the database’s GPS locator and raised an eyebrow at Utah. Definitely out of the way of major cities, but still a little curious that this is where they dumped the decommissioned helicarrier. He zoomed out on the map and looked for the nearest major highway, quickly memorizing the potential routes for later before returning to the Internet.

He was surprised to see that Stark Industries had been completely taken over and Tony’s stocks had plummeted to virtually nothing. The search brought him into more recent news, which was filled to the brim with articles on AIM and Inhumans. He frowned at the missing peoples reports scattered amongst the scientific journals and major news network coverings. Some people blaming AIM for their loved ones gone missing and Bruce frowned at the idea, hoping it wasn’t true.

He looked back at the girl and then the list of missing people he found on a federal missing person’s database. She didn’t look like any of the few from recent days and he felt relief for that. It still didn’t solve his problem of who she was and why she was here, but at least no one could accuse him of kidnapping if they did find them. Returning to the research, he skimmed over the basic information on AIM’s new robots that were being made with the aid of acquired Stark technology and AIM’s tireless work in trying to find a “cure” for the Inhuman population. All of this being spearheaded by none other than Dr. Rappaccini. Bruce had a sour taste in his mouth when he read over Monica’s name. He scrolled past the interview posted and instead buried his nose in the research findings posted beneath. He soaked in the numbers and the failed findings, gears in his mind turning as he consider hypotheses, tests, solutions, alternatives, etc.

Eyes strayed over to the hematology analyzer and the microscope on the other desk. He looked back down at the initial findings with Inhuman cases and the symptoms. He bit his lip, looking back at the girl who was still out cold and the worry started to creep in. It was clear from the Hulk’s memories that the girl had powers, and he guessed a 90% chance was because the girl was Inhuman. What if she was really sick? Dying?

The doctor walked over to the hematology analyzer and blew off the dust. He brought it over to the lit work table and then ventured over to the SHIELD strong boxes in the corner of the room. He opened one and clapped to himself when he found the bags of supplies readily on top. He dug through for a syringe and a vile for the analyzer. He didn’t have gloves or any antiseptic swabs, but there felt a sense of urgency to the situation. Bruce sat back down in the chair and rolled over to the side of the cot. He hesitated at first and his hand paused over the longer sleeve shirt beneath her t-shirt. He took a deep breath, pushed the sleeve up and attached the vile to the syringe. Finding the vein was easy and his eyes flicked up to her face to check if he woke her when he made the insertion, but she slept on. He took enough blood to fill the half of the vile before he put pressure above the needle and slid it from her skin.

He turned in his seat, looking for a place to dispose of the syringe and rolled towards the end of the cot where there was a small metal waste basket with charred papers. He uncapped the syringe from the vile and disposed of it in the completely not biohazard safe trash, thinking with some amusement about all the other scientists that used to inhabit this room and how shocked they’d be at his clear violation of health and safety standards. Eh, how many times had he explained he wasn’t that type of doctor?

“Hey… what…”

Bruce swiveled around at the voice and saw that the girl was awake. Big brown eyes wide and round with alarm. “What are you doing?” She moved to get up and he instantly moved to stop her. “Woah, take it easy. It’s okay.” He laid a hand against her shoulder, applying gentle pressure to push her back against the cot and used a firm, but calm voice as he spoke to the spooked teenager. He smiled and chuckled nervously. “Just making sure you don’t die on me.”

She settled back, listening to his instructions and looked around the area. No sooner did she look back at him she noticed the vile of blood between his fingers and he withdrew his hand quickly as she raised her head. He started panic as she looked at the sample incredulously, eyes widening with alarm again. “No… no… no…”

He held up his hand. “Okay… you need to…”

She needed to relax. She just passed out and he didn’t know if she had sustained any other injuries from the earlier fight. He could imagine that she was dehydrated and possibly had a concussion at most. The last thing he needed her having was a panic attack when he was trying to stave off his own and then possibly going into shock. The teenager’s brows furrowed as she looked at him sharply. “You just can’t go around taking people’s blood.”

Hand returning to her arm as she tried once again to push herself up and he spoke quickly, trying to rectify the situation before either one of them freaked - or in his case Hulked - out. “I know, I know… Under normal circumstances, no. But these aren’t normal circumstances.”

She blinked a few times, the initial anger fading from her eyes and then they grew like dinner plates as she slowly sat up. Mouth hanging open and eyes never leaving his face, Bruce watched realization dawn upon her and he sat up straight, as she cursed softly. “Holy… crap…”

He swallowed hard and her face brightened, a smile tugging at the edges of her awed expression. “Dr. Banner?”

Oh no. “Ooh no…”

He knew she was a fan, but still he could not help the fact that she caught him off guard by recognizing him so quickly. He drew away from her and rolled back, as the increasing tension came to the forefront. Bruce looked up, picturing the map he had found online earlier and started to retrace his potential escape route to help distract his mind as Hulk rumbled with spiking adrenaline. “Um… highway 9, highway 9 is about 20 miles to highway 9 if you take highway 9 you can take the bus stop then you probably could just do…” Stream of consciousness flowing out in a whisper, he moved his hand about tracing the highway lines on the map in his mind’s eyes, before he notice her very confused expression and he cringed. “Sorry.” He drew out the apology and his voice trailed off.

“What are you talking about?” She mumbled, now eyeing him like he had two heads.

Bruce took a fortifying breath and rested his elbows on the arms of the chair. He leaned forward a little and rolled the vial around his fingers. He didn’t know how to explain this. “I’ve spent, a lot of time…”

The words escaped him and his arms moved in the pathetic attempt of a muscle flex, before he raised them to indicate height. “Um…” When she still looked perplexed with his efforts he waved away the horrible gestures, slowly rolling back from her towards the hematology analyzer. “As the… as the big guy. So…”

He kicked off the floor and turned to the microscope, away from the girl’s probing gaze. Returning to his work was like falling into meditation, and he relished the beeping of the analyzer as he inserted the vial into the machine.

“How long have you been here?” The girl behind him asked.

He paused grabbing the arms of the chair like a life line as he admitted with another nervous chuckle. “Ah… a few years, yeah…” He sighed, inching up towards the microscope and lifting his glasses up to his head. He heard the girl getting up behind him, but he focused on the task in front of him leaning forward and fixing the focus on the microscope. The cells moved erratically around the slide, and preforming numerous amounts of behaviors that he had never seen normal blood cells do. However, their fusing and defusing was the most intriguing, he tried to recall what her powers were exactly, but he was too consumed by the novel sample in front of him.

“That’s remarkable,” he breathed.

“Yeah. So I’ve been told…” she sighed, voice dripping with dark sarcasm.

He wondered for a moment how many times someone must’ve told her this. How many tests she had to undergo and how long she had felt like nothing more than a lab rat. Bruce felt a pang of sadness for the girl, turning in his chair as she walked over to the end of the lab table. He decided to see if his theory about the robots outside was correct. “So… this is why AIM bots chased a kid into the desert?”

She looked at him a little hesitant, then glanced away, tapping her hand against the table and smiling anxiously. “Um… not exactly.”

He leaned back in the chair, clasping his hands on his lap and waited for her to explain. She reached back into her bag and he glimpsed the red thumb drive, as she ducked her head and shrugged her shoulders. “I kind of… stole something… off of AIM’s server.”

He laughed with no hint of amusement, eyebrows shooting upwards. “Hhhuh, what? Why? Why?” His voice grew as he sat up straight leaning forward and narrowing his eyes in disbelief at her words. Was she crazy? This certainly wasn’t helping her case against being a thief.

She stepped forward, holding the thumb drive in her hands protectively and voice stammering. “I… I know, I know… Okay?”

The girl in front of him looked down at the thumb drive, almost hesitant and then extended it out to him. There was sadness in her eyes. “I… just think you should see for yourself.”

Bruce glanced down at the thumb drive, skeptical of the girl’s ambiguous words and took it from her outstretched hand, eyes never leaving her face. He still didn’t know exactly what she was doing here and what she was planning, but even with his trust practically shattered, he didn’t sense any ill will from the teenager. She sort of reminded him of a lost puppy, and there was a whole other heap of dangers down that rabbit hole. He turned to the laptop and inserted the thumb drive, the video loading almost instantly.

There was a hairline crack that fractured his wavering composure when he saw the frozen image of the reactor room on the _Chimera_. He hoped the girl, now hovering right over his shoulder, didn’t see his hand shake as he pressed the play button. The video was void of sound and the image was a little grainy, but he could make out the person working frantically about the computers. “It’s Tarleton.” His voice wavered a little.

“Yeah…”

But then Steve appeared, ushering Tarleton away from the computers and pointing at the doors of the reactor room. Brow furrowing, Bruce narrowed his eyes as Cap took over the computers and Tarleton ran for the door way, stopping to look back at Steve. He watched Tarleton perform a series of commands on the key pad outside the room.

“Why are you shutting down the security protocols?”

Then in a sick turn of events, like a plot twist in a horror story that took the rug out from beneath your feet, Steve turned with his arm outstretched as Tarleton shut the doors. “ _D… did he just...?”_

_“Right?_ Right? That’s what I thought.” The girl said quickly, pointing at the screen. She swiveled away, voice grating angrily. “He totally locked Cap in the Reactor Room, and then he tried to jack the _Chimera.”_

Bruce’s mind played a three-way tug-of-war with the girl’s words, the video in front of him and the George Tarleton he once knew. “Oh, that’s… a bit of a stretch. We know the reactor was malfunctioning.” Even as he tried to slow down his racing mind and recall the information from that day, he couldn’t fathom why. “… So its possible Cap asked him to shut down the security protocols and then lock the doors?” Bruce pressed his fingers against his aching temples, trying to understand what he just saw and make some rational sense of it all. The teenager behind him was quick to argue his thoughts, firmly disagreeing and supported her argument before the last word left his lips.

“No we’ve heard the A-Day testimony tons of times… Tarleton and Monica were on the Command Deck when the explosion happened, and thats why they barely survived.” She said this with complete disbelief, and even he had to admit that part had never made quite enough sense to him either. “Oh yeah…”

She came towards him with new fervor. “But this proves that Tarleton was no where near the Command Deck when the explosion happened. This proves he was lying.”

Bruce was struck by her words, and a part of him had to concede that what she said made sense. Still, he was a man of science and that meant gathering all the evidence before drawing a conclusion. “So… where’s the rest of it?”

That spark in her eyes faded, and she sighed with frustration, pacing back towards the doors. “I got bumped off… The rest of the footage got corrupted.”

Ah.

“Yeah… um…” Bruce said, turning in the chair to look at her and her face dropped at his skeptical tone. Still, she tried.

“Look, what if the Avengers were set up? Okay?”

She moved her hands about to emphasize her point. “Tarleton, AIM, this so-called cure?” She seemed to be struggling as much as he was. “It’s… It’s just not lining up! But… But there’s something wrong and I can feel it!” She looked at him, eyes pleading. “Do you?”

Bruce considered her for a moment. Not just her words, but her whole attitude. There was something there, something familiar that he couldn’t place his finger on, but a drive that he had not seen in anyone for a long time. Not the want, but the need to figure out what was wrong and fix it, and not just for her sake, for others. He admired the tenacity from the small girl standing in front of him with the same hope in her eyes that he used to see in himself when he first thought he could be a hero.

“And here I thought you were some nosy little thief, trying to make off with Cap’s shield.”

He smiled, and although it wasn’t the answer she was looking for, she smiled, too.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. That spark of curiosity returned and she bounced on her heels, ducking her head and looking at him anxiously. “So… I was thinking… couldn’t Mr. Stark help us with this?”

Bruce’s stomach clenched painfully at the mention of Tony and asking for his help. Everything shut down and the anxiety that had disappeared returned to cloud his mind, as he remembered his plan to escape to nowhere. “I mean the whole mainframe was built on his technology.”

“Uh…” He turned away from her, unable to bash her hopefulness with his shame.

“If anyone could get us in, it could be him, right?”

“Yeah.” He said, noncommittally and reached for a nearby notepad and pen.

He didn’t know exactly where they were, but he was confident that he could send her in the right direction. West would lead her to a major city, and a SHIELD facility if he remembered correctly. Hopefully, SHIELD hadn’t gone too underground that no one would be there to help, but he could not help her. The idea of going back out into the world was too terrifying right now, and he would admit, with confidence, that he was a coward. “There is a bus stop… off highway 9, you’re gonna keep heading west. And then when you do it will take you to some old friends who can help. Maria’s good people, tell her I sent you, and just show her all of us.” He made sure to keep his head down and face turned away from her as he passed her the scrawled out instructions and hastily wrote his signature so Maria could be sure it was him.

“But you saw the video?!”

“I’m…”

“You know somethings not right here.”

He cut her off. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

There was uncomfortable silence, and he could feel her disbelief, eyes like lasers piercing through his cowardice. She didn’t take the note and he added, “I wish I could, but I can’t.”

Another pause, he still refused to look at her and be sucked in by that sad puppy look he had seen earlier. As much as he admired her attitude and her efforts, it was clear her intentions weren’t some docile little project. She needed help that was beyond his scope, and maybe he would’ve helped. Long ago, when he was a different man and there was a team behind him. However, there was no team, there was only him and his failures and all the evidence to support that he wasn’t a hero. He was a fraud. Helping her would be doing more of a disservice, than a benefit. He needed her to go. He needed to go back to his plans, find his keys to his RV which he hoped was still there, and then disappear before some worse thing happened. He felt bad, he wouldn’t say he didn’t, but this was wrong.

“But you’re Dr. Bruce Banner… You’re one of the greatest minds of our time.”

The words ignited a flare of anger and shock in his core. How could she say that? He finally looked up at her, eyes hard, but not green. “Greatest minds? Look at you! Look at what we did…” He watched his words sting her physically, as her eyes flickered away from his judging stare, and he softened his next words. “You don’t have any idea how dangerous that is.”

He turned back away from her, unable to tolerate yet another result of his harsher rhetoric and hoped that his small cruelty would finally send her on her way. Nonetheless, the universe always found some way to fuck up his plans. This time, the source of such upheaval, came in the form of a girl with puppy dog eyes and unshakable determination.

“Tarleton calls people like me Inhuman…. He claims were sick, violent, demented.”

He winced at her words, silently begging she would stop. So many times he had known what it was like for people to look at him and only see the monster. Only see the weight he carried and judge him for his worst mistakes. So many times it had been his own voice and his own eyes that said that. He had never wished that feeling upon his worst enemy before. Hearing this girl, who moments ago had so much life in her, and now sound so defeated, started to shake him. He shook his head, squeezing the bridge his nose and silently repeating to himself that he would not change his mind.

“He says our disease will kill us in the end.”

Bruce clenched his hands against the desk, the fear that slipped at the end of her sentence completely shattering his will. “Well I don’t believe it.” She marched back over to the desk and ripped the paper away, and he hoped that he could hold on to the last shred of his sanity that was keeping him from giving in. “Guess I’ll find Mr. Stark myself.” He felt her heated glare and then she finally started to leave, but it was too late. The damage was done.

“Wait! Just…” Even as he called out, he shook his head again at the absurdity of it all.

When did he ever get what he wanted?

He sighed. The girl stepped back into the entrance of the room and he pushed back from the table, mind still reeling. She looked at him expectantly as he walked up to and then past her towards the stairs to the hangar. He still wasn’t on board with finding Tony yet, but the least he could do was get her to him and then maybe he could wipe his hands clean of the situation. He was sure he couldn’t screw it up that much, and Tony would certainly be more inclined to help, and better able to, for that matter. Yes, this much he could do. “You’ll need a ride.”

All the anger and pain faded from her face as she perked up at his offer, jogging to catch up to him. “Really?”

He let out another heavy sigh, trying not to think of all the ways and possibilities he could get entangled into this. He could keep this simple, just dip his toe into the pool. Maybe do one more good deed that would put his mind at ease before running away. He rationalized that Steve would want him to do this, and he owed his friend that much, and more.

“Yeah, a ride,” he mumbled, as they passed through into the common area.

The girl followed close behind him, almost skipping along and he closed his eyes trying to find peace. He was severely out of practice when it came to socialization and he could barely remember the last actual face to face conversation he had with a person, let alone a kid. He led them through the first set of doors going towards the hangar bay, but frowned at the second entrance. The doors whirred, making awful sounds as they tried to slide apart and he laid his head in his hand. “Great.”

“Are they stuck?” The teenager asked, stepping up beside him.

“Yup, looks like it,” he groaned.

She hummed thoughtfully for a moment before moving in front of him and rubbing her hands together like she was plotting something. Bruce raised an eyebrow at this and she glanced over her shoulder at him, realizing how close she was and smiled sheepishly. “Mind taking a step back?”

He wasn’t entirely sure what she was about to do, but from his fuzzy memory of her growing very big earlier he suspected she would need the space. He took a step back sweeping a hand towards the doors to indicate she could have the honors and she grinned. “Okay, I got this…”

Bruce watched with a little amazement as she planted her feet firmly and her hands swelled in to the size of truck tires. She reached between the doors, and with a grunt of effort pried them apart. She shook out her hands and they returned to their normal size, and she stepped through the doors, with a triumphant smile on her face.

“That was… interesting,” Bruce said, following her out and they walked side by side down the stairs.

The girl grinned at his comment, taking it as praise and she stood a little taller. “Thanks! The doctors said they haven’t really seen any other Inhumans with the same powers before, but I also didn’t see a lot of doctors because, ya know, the whole Inhumans going missing thing. This is the first time I’ve really used them.” Her voice grew quiet towards the end and he glanced over as her face fell a little. He couldn’t handle these quick teenage emotional changes, it would drive him crazy.

“Well, from the sample I saw and your ability, it uh, looks like a form of morphogenesis. That would make you a polymorph… um, if I’m remembering the term correctly. Of course there are other factors to consider and other unknown abilities you may have, so I could be wrong — um, this way….”

He pointed to the covered RV towards the back of the room, as she started straying towards one of the jets and she raised an eyebrow. “An RV?”

He smirked. “Something wrong with that?”

“Oh no, it looks super comfy, I just don’t think I ever remember you guys traveling around in a van,” she mumbled.

Bruce chuckled, pulling off the cover and the girl coughed at the ensuing dust cloud. “Yeah, well, we didn’t. Tony refused to be caught dead in this thing, but it is comfortable and very low key. I’m not sure we wanna draw attention to ourselves flying a jet around, and since there isn’t a quinjet with cloaking tech, this is, uh, the next best thing.”

“Right, you’re right!” She said, pointing finger guns at him and he shook his head at the childish gesture.

They hopped in the van, the girl looking about and Bruce sighed in content as he sunk into the seat. The simple human act of driving was always relaxing and helped his mind go blank when he focused on the road. Natasha had never understood how he didn’t get road rage, but it never crossed his mind. He had taken a job as a taxi driver during the odd years he had isolated himself and he learned to control the annoyances with other drivers to enjoy the experience. Plus living in cities like New York and California pretty much exposed him to the worst of the world’s drivers, and he survived without turning green whenever someone cut him off.

“Dr. Banner?”

He looked over at the girl as she called him back from his thoughts and he smiled apologetically. “S-sorry., lost in thought”

He reached for the ignition and his hand fell flat against the key hole. He opened the sun visor above him, but the keys weren’t there. He looked around, checking in the door and the center console with no luck. He looked over towards the glove box and pointed at it, not wanting to reach across her. “Um, could you check the glove box, —?”

He paused, mouth open and head tipping to the side as he realized something outrageously important. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask your name.”

She smiled, reaching into the glove box, procuring the keys and handing them to him. “I’m Kamala Khan, nice to meet you!”


	9. The Dentist?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was a fic request! I hope you guys enjoy it!

“Owwww.”

Bruce looked up from the lab reports sitting in front of him, across the table and raised an eyebrow as Kamala lowered her food back onto its plate. The teenager winced as she probed at her cheek and quickly pulled away her hand, hissing in discomfort.

“You alright, kiddo?” He asked.

She shook her head and looked down at her sandwich as if it had betrayed her. “My jaw hurts like crazy.”

Bruce frowned, looking over face for any signs of injury, but he couldn’t see anything wrong from where he was. Tony and Steve, who sat between them in the large u-shaped booth, hadn’t noticed the exchange as they ran over last night’s mission report. Maybe she had taken a good punch and her healing was taking a while? He stood up, walked over to her and kneeled down at her side. She turned to face him, face scrunched uncomfortably and he slowly reached up to her face. He barely cupped her cheeks when she jerked away from him yelping. Bruce threw up both his hands and the other two occupants of the booth looked up at the noise as Kamala curled into her self, hands hovering around her face.

“Kamala, are you okay?” Steve asked, laying a hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t know. Am I?” She mumbled, the distress clearly evident on her face.

“Did Brucie try and steal your sandwich?” Tony asked

Bruce looked at Tony unamused and then back at Kamala who was still worried by the unknown pain. Steve glanced up at Bruce and raised an eyebrow. “Is she okay?”

“Trying to figure that out... uh, could you open your mouth, kiddo?” He asked.

She placed both her hands over her mouth and shook her head. “I just ate. My breath is totally gross right now.”

Bruce chuckled and rested a hand on her forearm, gently tugging. “I’m sure it’s fine. Don’t really care about that if you’re in pain, Kamala. Now come on, let’s see.”

She let him pull her arm away, and then closed her eyes and opened her mouth. He didn’t need to look for long to see the edges of her gums were lined with blood. The tips of new white teeth popping up behind her second molars and he patted her knee letting her know she could close her mouth. She looked at him anxiously as he stood up, smiling down at her and crossing his arms. “Looks like someone needs to see a dentist.”

Her brown eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and she gasped dramatically. “Are they rotting? Are they gonna fall out and I’m going to have get dentures?”

Tony laughed and this time both Bruce and Steve threw him unamused scowls. He shook his head at Kamala’s theatrical reaction and patted her shoulder.

“No, kiddo. Your wisdom teeth are coming in and they look impacted. You’re gonna need to get them pulled,” Bruce explained.

“Really?” Kamala asked.

Steve squeezed her other shoulder and smiled sympathetically. “It won’t be so bad. Back when I was sixteen you went to the general store and they took your teeth out with pliers. They have much better methods now, of course.”

Oh god. Cap meant well, but Bruce watched utter horror dawn upon Kamala’s face as she looked back up at him. She quickly scrambled from the booth and away from the three of them.

“Kamala!” Bruce called after her, but she had already disappeared.

Tony groaned, shaking his head and laying it in his hands. Steve looked back at Tony and then Bruce, who sighed.

“Should I not have said that?”

-

“Come on Kamala! We’re gonna be late!”

Bruce placed his hands on his hips and tapped his foot impatiently as he waited outside of the teenager’s room. Glancing at his watch he knew they had plenty of time, but he had already planned on this being difficult. She had locked herself in her room after Steve’s little comment and hadn’t emerged until Tony offered to buy her ice cream that night. Needless to say, that ensued an entirely different disaster that led to Bruce nearly going green when Tony brought her home teary eyed and whimpering in pain. Apparently, the “genius” ex-billionaire had forgotten about the very sensitive nerves currently inflamed with infection, when he gave Kamala the frozen treat.

Bruce knocked at her door again, and heard a whine from inside. “I’m not going.”

He sighed, pressing his head into the palm of his hand. “Kamala, you need to go to the dentist. I promise, it’ll be over before you know it. C’mon kiddo.”

There was silence again from the other side of the door and Bruce was growing frustrated. He wasn’t going in there to physically pull her out, he already gave that job to Nat if it came down to it, but if she didn’t come out soon they were definitely going to be late.

“Kamala -“

The door slid open and he looked down at her. She had pulled on a Hulk hoodie that completely engulfed her, and left the hood up looking completely like a melodramatic teenager. He smirked at sour expression and crossed his arms, leaning down to peer at her face partially hidden by her bangs. “That hoodie looks like it could fit Hulk.”

“It’s comfy,” she mumbled, digging her hands further into the pockets.

“Ready to go?” He asked.

She mumbled something else, and he imagined it was nothing kind and maybe a little colorful, but let it slide. Kamala remained planted in the spot and she swayed nervously, much like he did sometimes, and whispered something else that he didn’t hear.

“I, uh, didn’t catch that, what’d you say?” He asked.

“Couldn’tyoudoit?” She asked quickly, looking up at him with sad, hopeful eyes.

He would never admit out loud that that look always got to him. Bruce was pretty sure that she knew it too, but this time he couldn’t concede.

“Kamala, if I could I would, but I can’t. Better to leave this to professionals and _those_ kinds of doctors,” he chuckled.

“But you could learn! What’s one more PhD? It would be so cool! Y-you could be _that_ kind of doctor!” She argued, throwing up finger guns at him.

She tried to smile, but as soon as she pushed it too far she cringed in pain. “Owww...”

Bruce rolled his eyes and threw an arm around her shoulders pulling her forwards. “I think seven PhDs is enough and I would never be able to learn in time to fix this.”

“Not true. You’re a very fast learner.”

“Uh-huh. Trying to butter me up is not getting you out of this, kiddo. You’re still going.”

“I take back my compliments.”

“Then I’m reconsidering the smoothie I was going to buy you afterwards.”

“Did I ever tell you you’re my _favorite_ Avenger?”

-

Bruce flipped lazily through one of old magazines from the limited selection of the office’s waiting room. Kamala had gone in to the room almost half an hour ago and the assistant had come out to let him know they were almost done.

He had to admit he felt a pang of sadness when Kamala gave him a terrified look over her shoulder when they brought her in. Bruce had almost asked to go in with her, but the nurse assured him she would be fine and do better on her own without him worrying in the corner. Plus he couldn’t bet on the Hulk not to get testy when they started pulling out the teeth. He might think they were hurting her and he wasn’t ready to explain the green eyes when the dentist pulled out the first tooth. They already had to lay low considering AIM was still crawling about.

He got to the end of the magazine and threw it back into the mountain sitting on the table beside him. An older woman who had come in with her grandson was knitting in the seats across from him. She looked up and gave Bruce a friendly smile, which he returned, before going back to her stitches. The click of her needles and the ticking of the clock on the wall was starting to make him impatient.

The door to the back rooms opened and he sat up straight as the nurse stepped out. She nodded to him and he stood as she opened the door a little wider and Kamala emerged. He bit his tongue, trying to swallow the chuckle threatening to break through and smiled sadly at her.

She shuffled towards him, a little wobbly on her feet and holding two ice packs against her swollen cheeks. Bruce could tell she was still a little out of it from the glazed look in her eyes and her head bobbing back and forth. When she spoke, her speech was slurred and inhibited by the cotton between her teeth. “Hay Bwuce.”

The chuckle escaped him and he reached out squeezing her shoulder. “Hey kiddo, how are you feeling?”

“Gweat!” She tried to say with a little more pep and bouncing on her toes, but then she moaned in pain and pressed the ice packs harder against her face. She shook her head about wildly. “Nawt gweat.”

The nurse handed him some paperwork and a prescription for pain medication, smiling over at Kamala. “She did great. Took a while for the Novocain to set in though, she’s got quite the metabolism...”

Bruce coughed uncomfortably and smiled at the woman. “She’s, um, very athletic. She does a lot of, uh, s-sports at school.”

The nurse didn’t seem to notice the lie and he took a deep breath of relief when she changed the subject. “She’ll probably sleep the rest of day. If she wakes up later give her half a pill and then a full one twelve hours later, and tomorrow she might feel a little nauseous. If you need anything else or something happens, just call.”

Kamala chuckled. “Don’f wowwy, Bwuce is a doctaw. He knows wha to do.”

“Oh, you are?” The nurse asked.

Bruce smiled nervously and placed his hands on Kamala’s shoulders steering her towards the exit. He needed to get Kamala out of here before she started spilling more information or the woman recognized him. “Not that kind of doctor, as I keep telling her. But, uh, thank you. We’ll be sure to call if anything comes up. H-have a nice day.”

“Bwye Miss Nuwse!” Kamala called back as Bruce led her away.

He had to keep his arm around her shoulders to keep her from falling over as he walked her to the car. She leaned against his back as he opened the door and he had to help her maneuver her way in. He kept a hand on her head to keep her from smacking it against the roof and had to buckle her seatbelt for her so she could keep the ice packs against her face.

He felt better once they were in the car and looked over at her as she leaned her head back against the head rest. He smirked at her dazed expression and the sudden curiosity in the lights above the dashboard. “Zo many buttonz...”

He shook his head, chuckling to himself and started the car. She jumped at the sound of the engine roaring to life.

“Ready to go home, kiddo?”

“I’m nawt a keed,” she whined, very much like a kid.

“Uh-huh.”

“Youse a keed,” she said, and then laughed.

“Okay, kiddo. Whatever you say.”

He pulled out onto the road and his phone started to ring. Kamala gasped. “Waz tha?”

The caller ID was Tony and he answered on the car’s Bluetooth. “Hey Tony, what’s up?”

“ _Hey Doc! Just calling in to see if Kamala is done yet._ ”

Kamala gasped again, this time excitedly. “It’z Mistaw Stawk!”

“ _Oh my God. Banner, please tell me you’re recording this.”_

Bruce went to respond, but Kamala shouted over him. “HI TOWY!” Bruce grimaced as his ears rang. “Kamala…”

“ _Jesus kid, watch the eardrums!”_

“Buh I can’t zee you,” Kamala said sadly, looking around the car for the source of Tony’s voice.

“ _Bruce you better be recording this.”_

Bruce rolled his eyes, finger hovering over the end call button on the steering wheel. “Goodbye, _Towy.”_

_“Bruce- !”_

Bruce ended the call and looked back over at Kamala as she slumped over in the seat, groaning low in pain again. “Feeling alright, Kamala?”

“Hmm, naushiz,” she grumbled.

“I’m sorry what was that?” He asked.

“Zick, I veel zick.”

Oh shit. Bruce threw on the blinker and pulled the car over to the shoulder of the road. Kamala dropped one of the ice packs and reached out to the dashboard for support as she leaned forward. He rubbed comforting circles over her back as she breathed through the nausea. It hurt to see her like this, but he was happy the procedure was over and she wouldn’t be in pain anymore.

“Want to lay down in the back?” He asked.

She shook her head and breathed hard through her nose. “No, I’m okay.”

Her body must’ve been burning off the drugs pretty quickly if she was already feeling nauseous, or the pain was returning quicker than expected.

“Hey Bwruce.” Huh, she was getting closer to his name at least.

“Yeah, kiddo?”

He panicked when she raised her head and her eyes were full of tears. “I canth feel my tung. Deh they tathe my tung?”

He snorted and clamped a hand over his mouth trying not to laugh. “N-no, Kamala. They didn’t take your tongue.”

“Why awe you lafing at me?” She cried, and he shook his head, shoulders trembling as he desperately tried to hold in his amusement.

“Bwwwwuceee, stahp lafing at me. Iz nah vunny!” She wailed, hiding her face in her hands and sobbing.

“I’m n-not laughing at you, k-kiddo. I- I promise,” he said.

“You deh dis. You toof me to da denfis, a-and you m-mafe dem tafe my wizom teef and my tung!”

“I’m sorry, kiddo. But they didn’t take your tongue, I promise,” he chuckled.

She looked, fat tears spilling over her cheeks and he reached out wiping them away with his thumb. “You szware?”

“I swear,” he smirked.

She sniffled and rubbed away the rest of her tears. “Can ve go ‘ome now?”

“Sure, kiddo.”

He pulled the car back into the lane and Kamala reclined her seat, bringing the ice packs back up to her face. The next twenty minutes were quiet and Bruce thought the worst of it was over. Maybe she would sleep on the quinjet? He turned into the desolate parking lot where they had left the quinjet and deactivated the cloaking technology. The quinjet materialized into view and he turned his head to Kamala.

Oh god.

Her hands, which swelled in size hovered in front of her face and she looked at them equal parts mesmerized and petrified.

“BWUCE!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm certainly not a comedy guru, but I hope you guys liked it! I had a lot of fun doing it and fell down a YouTube rabbit hole of wisdom teeth aftermath videos.


	10. A Spoonful of Sugar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this one shot happens a little after my fic Home, A Place Where I Belong, but there are no spoilers as long as you read the first chapter. It's a little angsty, but mostly fluffy. My take if Peter became Tony's protege in the Marvel game and the few changes around the Chimera. Dad!Bruce & Kamala centric, with a bonding moment between Tony and Kamala. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wasn't sure if I was going to post this or not, because it is very self-indulgent and a take on a more emotional Bruce after what happens to Kamala in my multi-fic. But I said hey, whatever, not enough of this duo out there to keep tucked away!

Kamala liked Peter. Really, she did. She had been ecstatic when the Avengers had warmed up to him and let him tentatively “join” the team. Peter only being fifteen, and all that Kamala had endured, made Cap hesitant to make anything official and Peter had expressed he wasn’t quite ready to take on the mantle, despite being excited. He wasn’t Inhuman, but keeping his identity secret was the most important concern he had, so the Avengers whole-heartedly respected his decline. Plus he was able to keep eyes on the ground where the Avengers could not, so Peter had turned out to be a wonderful asset and ally to the team. Kamala was also happy to have someone closer to her age that understood some of her worries and anxieties. They became fast friends and Kamala always loved spending time together when he came around.

Tony had taken a shine to the kid immediately. Peter was insanely smart, and very eager to learn, but like Kamala, was a bit excited and overwhelmed by being around his heroes. Especially Mr. Stark. He never admitted it out loud, but Tony always left the poor boy tongue tied whenever he stepped into the room and in turn, Peter’s blinding adoration for him fed Tony’s lack of “ambiguous and public affection.” So, Tony stepped up to the plate and took on the role of Peter’s mentor. Everyone had been a little worried at first, Tony not exactly the star role model for such an impressionable teen. Yet, Tony had shown surprising maturity with Peter and even a softness that he rarely showed. 

Kamala liked Peter, a lot. But — so did Bruce.

Kamala was not a jealous person and she didn’t “lay claim” to the Avengers, but she was starting to feel… a little left out. Everyone had taken a liking to Peter and each formed subsequent relationships with the new teen. He was strong enough and quick enough to hold his own in a spar with Cap and Widow, he and Thor had inside jokes, and of course, Peter and Tony were like two peas in a pod when they were tucked away in the tech lab. But Peter and Bruce got along well over a shared love for science. More and more lately, Peter’s free time was spent in the science lab with Bruce, helping the scientist with equations or showing Bruce how he developed his web fluid. It had amused Kamala at first, and made her happy, to see Bruce opening up quickly to another person, but on the same note, their time spent together was… well, starting to become excessive. It seemed every time Kamala sought out her mentor, Peter was there and she was starting to become uncomfortable with her own green eyed monster growing. 

If she had a homework question, Bruce was trading samples with Peter. If she wanted to spar with the big guy, Bruce had already exhausted himself with a training session with Peter. Breakfast time, in the lab, lunch time, in the lab, dinner time, in the lab… with Peter. Lab reports and team discussions, filled at some point with a praise about Peter’s help, or - or —

Kamala groaned. She hated feeling like this. She hated feeling like Peter was invading when she knew he wasn’t. Peter was her friend and he always made an effort to hang out with her first whenever he came by. Yet, part of her was envious and upset about how much time he had been taking up with  _ her  _ mentor. At the same time, she also knew her feelings were coming from the fact that Bruce seemed to be enjoying Peter’s company so much so she felt - inadequate. The thought alone was horrible and deep down she knew it wasn’t true. After losing her family and almost dying, Bruce made it clear what she was to him. The daughter he never thought he would ever have, if she was summarizing. He loved her, and she loved him. That bond ran deeper than a little time being spared to another at the end of the day. Nonetheless, as weeks passed by, Kamala felt herself lonely and missing Bruce. 

She thought about three nights ago when she had The Nightmare. It had been almost a year now since the incident, and her mental health had improved greatly, but she still had nightmares here and there. They were rattling, panic inducing and so soul crushing she usually didn’t go back to sleep on her own when she had them. Kamala would seek out Bruce, at his behest since she first tried to hide them from him, and he would let her sleep in his room, curled in his arms or tucked in on the couch. She hadn’t had The Nightmare in over a month, and when she went out to find Bruce, she found him in the lab with Peter, engrossed in something she couldn’t begin to understand. She hadn’t the heart to bother them and went back to her room with an empty feeling in her chest. 

It was starting to feel a little overwhelming, to be so disconnected from Bruce, and she hated the resentment starting to form towards her friend because of it. She tried to not show it was bothering her, but keeping that act up for long was not helping her nerves or her focus. 

And that was clear when her consuming thoughts effectively diverted her attention from the simulated Adaptoid’s punch.

“Kamala look out!” Cap yelled.

It was too late though. Even as she turned her head and swelled her fist to counter, the simulated Adaptoid’s own fist was already connecting with her jaw. The force of the blow sent her reeling, head snapping back, and she swore she felt her brain rattling about her skull before she connected with the ground and blacked out for a moment. The HARM room simulation was quickly deactivated, and Cap and Thor ran to her side. 

“Kamala! Kamala are you alright?” Steve asked urgently.

“Young one!” Thor gasped.

“M’fine,” she mumbled, trying to sit up and not worry the super soldier or the god.

“I’m taking you to the medbay,” Steve said.

“No, no… I’m okay, I swear,” she insisted, trying to wave his hands away and stand up.

However, as soon as she did, the world spun dramatically and her legs buckled beneath her. Luckily, Cap was ready to catch her and he shook his head adamantly. “Medbay, that's an order.”

She sighed, nodding and Steve lifted her up into his arms. She moaned in pain, a pounding headache throbbing behind her eyes and she could feel her jaw starting to swell. She was sure she would have a nice black and blue bruise blooming there soon and she winced when she tested moving her jaw around.

“What happened, Kamala?” Steve asked as he headed for the medbay.

“I dunno,” she lied, unable to face the embarrassment of her self-pity.

“Thats a punch I’ve seen you avoid hundreds of times. You looked - distracted,” Steve said, glancing at her worriedly when they reached the medbay.

She couldn’t bring herself to tell him what was going on and instead she shrugged. Steve frowned at her uncharacteristic silence and went to probe further when the door to the medbay opened and nurse Kim stepped out.

“Agent Woo let us know you’d be coming. That's a pretty color cheek you got there, kiddo,” she snickered.

Kamala smiled tightly, feeling a pang of sadness when Kim called her ‘kiddo’ and the thoughts came back to torture her. “Thanks Kim.”

“Did you lose consciousness at all?” Kim asked, leading them to a bed.

“For a second, but I feel fine now, I swear,” Kamala said again, hoping they would just leave her be.

“Is that why Captain Rogers had to carry you down here?” Kim smirked, taking out a small flashlight. She shined them in Kamala’s eyes, checking for concussion and Steve stood like a silent sentinel behind them waiting for the nurse’s diagnosis.

“Just a little dizzy. I stood up too quickly.”

“Kamala…” Steve said, a tone of warning to stop with her bullshit.

Kamala frowned and Kim sat back, slapping her hands down on her lap and smiling sympathetically at Kamala. “Looks like a concussion. I’ll give you some painkillers, but I know those don’t really help you two so much. Unfortunately, I can’t give you anything stronger because you can’t fall asleep.”

Kamala felt relieved when Kim told her that. Sleeping had been a tortuous affair after her nightmare. She didn’t want to sleep and have it again and then be disappointed when she couldn’t seek out Bruce afterwards. To be ordered not to sleep felt like a blessing in disguise and she nodded, thanking Kim when she handed over the useless regular strength ibuprofen.

“Your healing should take care of the rest, but I’d try to wait at least until tomorrow morning to try sleeping. So take it easy and pop open some sodas,” Kim chuckled.

Steve thanked Kim again and then helped Kamala up. When she stumbled, she whined in frustration and Steve chuckled picking her up again.

“Sorry Cap, stupid jelly legs...”

“Don’t apologize Kamala. We all get beat up here and there. I can’t even remember how many concussions I’ve gotten over the years,” Steve smiled.

Kamala nodded, falling back into her thoughts again and Steve considered her for a moment. She averted her eyes and when Steve opened his mouth to ask she cut him off.

“Sorry about training Cap. I’ll do better next time,” she said.

He frowned. “Kamala I don’t care about training. I care about something like this happening out in the field. God forbid it was a real Adaptoid and you blacked out longer than a second....”

_ She didn’t know how many days she had been in the cell. All this time she thought she had woken up the day after, but for all she knew so much time could’ve gone by. It was so dark and the walls seemed to grow closer and closer, sucking away all the air and leaving her choking on nothing but sheer panic. _

_ “ _ ... do you understand, Kamala?” Steve asked.

“What?” She mumbled.

His frown deepened. “Where did you go?”

She swallowed hard, looking down at her shaking hands folded in her lap and shook her head. “No where.”

“Kamala, you need to-“ Steve started to say warningly.

“Cap, I - I don’t want to talk about it. Please?”

Steve looked at her sadly, blue eyes begging her to change her mind, but she wouldn’t look at him and be suckered into spilling. She knew she was being childish, and the last thing she needed was a lecture on just that. Steve sighed, finally conceding to her requested silence and turned down towards her room, opening the door.

He sat her at her desk and patted her shoulder. “I’m gonna get you something to eat and drink. If you need anything I’ll be working on this week’s mission reports so pop over or let JARVIS know in case you’re still a little dizzy.”

“Thanks Cap. I’m gonna try and get some homework done,” she sighed.

He nodded and left her to get some things to help her stay awake. She looked around her room sighing again and feeling downright defeated. Tony, Peter, Bruce and Nat we’re out on a mission and with their training session now cut short she was beyond bored. She hated being left with nothing to do and too much time to think. She couldn’t even walk for God’s sake and she pulled at her hair, frustratedly. She lied to Cap when she said she was going to do homework, because she had already finished it, but she didn’t want him hovering over her.

She couldn’t believe she had been so distracted. Steve was right, that was a throw that she had countered so many times it should’ve been reflexive by now. Kamala knew that talking about it might solve the problem, but the last thing she wanted to do was tell anyone about her growing jealousy, and reveal how unreasonable she was acting. She needed to fix this herself and then maybe it would go away. She was smart and she knew the truth. Bruce didn’t not enjoy her company and Peter was innocent of any attempts to steal her mentor. She needed to stop being ridiculous about it.

She opened up her laptop, knowing that she shouldn’t be staring at a screen with a concussion, but not willing to sit there in silence and asked JARVIS to start up one of their games. She and the AI had started a little exercise together, he would draw up algorithms and programs for her that she would have to try and hack. It was good practice and she found the challenge a great source of distraction and it was fun. He even drew up some old algorithms that Mr. Stark had done in the past, and once she even beat one of his completion times by thirteen minutes. 

“ _ Are you sure you should be looking at your computer now, Ms. Khan?”  _ JARVIS asked.

“I’ll be alright JARVIS, I just need something to do,” Kamala sighed.

“ _ As you wish, Ms. Khan.” _

The program booted up and Kamala set to work allowing lines and lines of code to push away her sadder thoughts. Steve returned with a couple cans of soda and a sandwich. She didn’t look up as she thanked him and missed his troubled expression as he left her alone. She popped open one of the sodas and started her first hack. 

She didn’t know how much time had passed by, but when she opened her last soda and looked up towards the window, the sky was black. 

“JARVIS what time is it?” She asked.

“ _ The time is 10:13 PM. Are you feeling tired Ms. Khan? Should I alert Captain Rogers or Dr. Banner?”  _ The AI asked.

Kamala looked up in surprise. “The others are back?”

“ _ Indeed. The team returned two hours ago. Their mission was successful. Should I let someone know you are in need of something?”  _ JARVIS asked.

Kamala shook her, and whispered softly. “No… no that's alright, JARVIS. I’m fine, and I think if I drink any more soda I might have a stroke from all this caffeine.”

“ _ You would need to consume a larger quantity within a smaller window of time to achieve such an effect.” _

Kamala huffed in amusement and chuckled, “Thanks JARVIS, I’ll have to remember that.”

“ _ You’re wel— oh, forgive me Ms. Khan, but I hope you were joking?” _

“I’m only kidding, buddy. Wanna run the next program?” Kamala said, smirking.

“ _ Of course. Preparing algorithm 682…” _

Kamala tried to focus on her code as she started picking through the weaker points in the system, but she was finding her focus dwindling after what JARVIS told her. The others had come back, but no one had come to check on her - or even say hello. The news was a little crushing if she were honest and she felt a wave of hideous anger towards her friends. She didn’t want anyone fawning over her, but she didn’t think they would totally ignore her. Maybe Cap had told them she didn’t want to talk? But that had never stopped Bruce before. Her heart wilted when she thought about it more and when she finally ran her latest virus it failed. She scowled at the screen, frustration fueling her actions as she wiped away her code, instead of just finding her flaws and started from scratch. She drummed her fingers impatiently against the desk and dropped her chin onto her palm, blowing out hard through her nose. 

She glanced over at the door when she heard a knock and glared up at the ceiling. “JARVIS did you tell someone to check on me?”

“ _ I did not Ms. Khan. It’s Mr. Stark, I believe he wishes to discuss something regarding a suit upgrade.” _

Kamala sighed and gave the AI permission to open her door. Tony stepped in, smile cheerful and eyes alight with the usual excitement of a new idea forming. “Hey Kamala!” He sang, clapping his hands together as he prepared to share his genius idea when he noticed the scene in front of him. “Woah, did you drink all these or did the Coca-Cola bear drop by for an endorsement?” 

He kicked a discarded soda can by his foot and raised an eyebrow at all the others scattered about her desk.

“Yeah,” she mumbled.

“Well, better not let Bruce see this. He’ll throw a cow over your sugar levels and probably put a padlock on the vending machine,” Tony smirked, crossing his arms.

“I doubt it,” she snorted, fixing an issue with her first new line of code. 

Tony’s eyebrow shot up again, and he leaned down to peer at her face more closely. “What’s with that sour puss, Ms Grumpy?”

She turned her head to throw him an unamused look and he hissed, “Good lord, Kamala! What happened to your face?”

“Cap didn’t tell you?” She questioned, looking at him confused.

“Cap’s been at the Ant Hill… what, did you two fight over the tv remote because Nat can’t find it anywhere,” Tony asked, lowering himself onto the bench beside her.

“Oh,” she muttered, looking down and then turning back to her computer. “Training accident. I have a concussion, I’m not allowed to sleep.”

“Well, that would explain the Coca-Cola free for all — still, I have a feeling you’re not grumpy over not sleeping, so come on, tell Uncle Tony what’s on your mind,” he said.

“It's nothing,” she sighed, taking another sip of her drink and started running her new virus again.

Before the program could finish executing, Tony reached over and shut the laptop. She frowned at him and huffed angrily, “Tony it took me three tries to fix that!”

“It wouldn’t have worked, there was an error in the fifteenth line with your input code. Now, where was I - oh yes, you were telling me what has got your burkini in such a twist,” he said, looking at her closely and smirking.

“I told you it’s nothing, Mr. Stark. I’m just tired,” she sighed frustratingly, hoping he would let it go.

He kept looking at her, face unchanging and clearly not convinced. She frowned, dropping her head in defeat and tried to think of another - better, excuse when her traitorous stomach growled loudly. Tony grinned and she laid a hand over her stomach. “Did you skip dinner?”

She was hungry, and it appeared she had, considering the time. Tony patted her shoulder and stood up. “C’mon let's go get you something other than straight sugar.”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly.

“Well I’m glad to hear that, but I don’t believe you and  _ I  _ am hungry. Plus, I’ve been thinking about that gyro place you told me about, and my mind is made up. So, get changed, chop chop,” Tony said, clapping his hands.

She knew arguing would be useless and so she got up, feeling a little light-headed, but not as dizzy as before. Tony left her to get changed and she met him outside her room wearing her blue and white Ms Marvel jacket and her favorite pair of sneakers. Tony wore an old MIT baseball cap and a black pea-coat over his gray long sleeve, throwing the keys to the quinjet in the air and catching them lazily. He looked down at her and smirked. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, sticking her hands into her jacket and nodding.

Tony offered her power over the radio and she considered his offer, but found no interest in listening to any music. 

“Yikes, now I know something is wrong when you hand over the radio without a fight,” Tony gasped.

She sunk further into the seat and curled her knees against her chest, resting her head against her hand. Tony reached over and poked her temple. “No sleeping. God forbid I bring you back comatose,” He said, shuddering. 

She leaned forward and found the dial on the radio and fiddling with it until she found what she was looking for and turned it up. Beautiful, sweet and lulling classical music filled the inside of the quinjet and Tony reached forward turning it off. 

“Not funny,” he said.

~

“Okay, if you’re not gonna eat that, I will,” Tony said pointing at her gyro.

She had nibbled a few bites, but had no appetite. Kamala reached over for her soda which Tony had been reluctant to buy her, but he grabbed it from her hands and narrowed his eyes. “No more soda. You’ll be diabetic before noon tomorrow.”

“I need to stay awake,” she argued.

“Yeah, but I’ve also seen you put away enough food to put Thor to shame when you’re exhausted, so eat,” he said, nodding at her plate again.

She groaned, but picked up the gyro and took a large bit for emphasis, staring at him with a look that asked if he was satisfied as she chewed. Tony smirked, “If your cheek wasn’t so purple and yellow I’d take a picture. You look like a chipmunk.”

She swallowed quickly and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you dare.”

“Fine, I won’t… but you have to tell me what’s been bothering you then,” he said, leaning back in the booth and crossing his arms.

“I can’t eat and talk at the same time, and you made it clear I needed to eat,” she said, smirking and took another bite.

He rolled his eyes and moved her plate to the side, wrapping a hand around her wrist and lowering the gyro back onto the plate, face growing serious. “Enough joking, hun. What’s wrong? You’ve been acting weird.”

“I told you I’m just tired, Tony,” she mumbled, looking to the side.

“Cut the crap, Kamala,” Tony snapped. 

Her eyes flew back up to him in surprise at his sudden hostility, and he sighed. “Those four days — I still think about them here and there.”

Kamala turned her head away and clenched her fists against the table. “I try not to…”

“During them, I didn’t talk to anyone. I didn’t want to hear them tell me it wasn’t my fault -“

“It wasn’t!” Kamala said, voice raising earnestly as she looked up at him.

Tony’s guilt had been so utterly awful and Kamala had felt horrible that he had blamed himself for what happened. She had never blamed him, and tried her best to ease his conscience of that burden, but they all carried their demons from the incident. Tony continued, “But I knew not talking with my friends, was not the answer. My silence was hurting them as much as it hurt me. I know I can be - aloof, but I can be serious, kid. If you need me to be serious, I will be. And if you can’t talk to me then talk to Bruce. We all still worry about you.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, shoulders deflating and voice tight as she spoke. “It doesn’t feel like I can anymore.”

Tony frowned in confusion. “What do you mean, honey?”

She sighed, taking her straw wrapper and rolling it between her fingers. She explained, “I know it’s silly and I know it’s not true, but I feel like — I feel like Bruce doesn’t have time for me anymore. I don’t want to say much more, and I don’t want to sound like a horrible person, but -“

“Does it have anything to do with Peter?” Tony asked, smiling sympathetically.

She looked at him sadly. She didn’t want Tony thinking she didn’t like Peter, because she did. It just hurt so much, and she felt foolish because of it, and the last thing she wanted was Tony dismissing it as such.

“Peter’s my friend, but it just seems like when he’s not with you, he’s with Bruce. A-and I know I can’t monopolize Bruce’s time, but I just feel like I’d be intruding - or stepping on something that makes him happy. Because he looks so happy when Peter is in the lab with him working on something or when he talks about something he and Peter did. Just makes me think if he took on the wrong protege or he regrets being saddled with me.”

“Wow I’ve never heard such an utterly false and wild claim in my life, and my friend called us dangerous,” Tony snorted.

She scowled at him and flicked her wad of paper at him. “This is why I didn’t say anything, forgot it.”

“No, no, no. That's not what I meant, Kamala. I mean it's true, what you said was outrageous, but even so it’s how you feel. But Kamala, that could be the farthest thing from the truth. Yeah, Brucie gets excited when he gets to nerd out, just like you still have your own fangirl moments over us.”

“No I don’t. Not anymore,” she grumbled, sheepishly. 

Tony raised an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. He chuckled, leaning forward and squeezed her bad wrist gently. “Listen Kamala. The Bruce I knew before meeting you was never really happy. He tried to be, but you could see it was all superficial. The science and all that extra stuff, that's just been exciting and the only thing Bruce thought he was good at it.  _ Without _ having to turn into a giant green rage monster to achieve.  _ You  _ make him happy. I - don’t think if we hadn’t saved you, that anything would’ve saved my friend.”

Kamala smiled at Tony, her eyes stinging a little bit and nodded. Tony pulled out his wallet to pay for the meal and Kamala took a few more bites of her gyro. Tony slung an arm across her shoulders as they left and Kamala breathed into her hands as they stepped out into the cold December night. The city around them was decorated for the holidays and snow from three days ago still stuck on the ground, now black with days of dirt and salt. Tony tucked her a little closer to his side and pulled down his hat as they passed by an AIM bot talking with two people across the street. Kamala tugged him down the alley leading to the old parking lot where they had left the quinjet and bounced on her toes trying to warm herself up as Tony fished out the keys to decloak the jet. 

“So, I’ll talk with Pete,” Tony said as they walked up the lowered ramp.

Kamala looked at him in alarm. “What?! No! No, don’t do that! Peter hasn’t done anything wrong, neither of them. Please Tony, don’t talk to them.”

“Why not? I’m not gonna sit and watch you walk around like a sad, lost puppy,” Tony said.

“I don’t need anyone to change anything out of pity, Tony. If Peter wants to spend time with Bruce then let him. This is still all new and exciting for him too,” Kamala insisted.

“That’s not fair to you though,” Tony argued.

“Just because something bad happened Tony, doesn’t mean I need to hold Bruce’s hand all the time. It’s alright. It felt good to talk about it, and I can deal with Bruce being busy. It’s not a big deal, really,” Kamala said, smiling over at Tony.

Tony looked at her with disbelief. “You’re an idiot.”

“An idiot with better taste in music than you,” Kamala said, reaching for the radio.

Tony smacked her wrist and she scowled at him as he wagged his finger. “Nope. My sympathy has been used up, let the dad rock commence.”

“Ugh, it’s gonna put me to sleep!” Kamala whined.

“Then I’ll just have to turn it up louder,” Tony snickered and she groaned.

~

Kamala hummed along with the music, and pressed the ear bud further into her ear as she made her way to the commissary. Tony had gone to bed after spending some time with her and helping her fix her virus that had been stumping her before they left. It had been helpful to her to talk with him and she felt a little better about the situation. She was a big girl, almost eighteen, she didn’t have to have Bruce at her side everyday. The incident may come back to haunt her once and while, but she had to learn to deal with it on her own. It wasn’t fair to Bruce either, to keep bringing it up to him when it still upset him, too. 

She reached the vending machine and typed in the code for a Dr. Pepper, already exhausting its reserve of Coca- Cola. She yawned, waiting for the machine to dispense her drink when she heard someone call her name. She looked over, careful not to turn her head too far and induce a headache, and saw Bruce standing there smiling at her. She pulled her ear buds out and smiled back at him, “Hey Bruce.”

“Hey, kiddo. It’s uh, little late for a soda, don’t you think?” He asked, glancing at the vending machine.

“Can’t sleep,” she said, shrugging and reaching down to grab the can.

“Oh… any reason?” 

She sighed, “I’m not allowed.”

He raised an eyebrow when she said this, but when she turned letting him see the purple bruise across her cheek, he choked on his next words and his eyes grew wide with alarm. He hurried forward and she lifted her chin when he cupped the opposite cheek so he could inspect the broken blood vessels painting her face black and blue. “Oh my god, what happened, Kamala?”

She winced when his thumb brushed a little too close to the edge of her tender jaw and he looked pained himself at her reaction. “Training accident. I got caught by a surprise. Kim said I had a concussion, hence the 2AM soda run. No sleeping.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” He mumbled, tearing his eyes from her bruise to her brown orbs.

She shrugged again. “You were out on the mission when it happened and Cap and Thor went to the Ant Hill. I’ve been trying to do some studying so I’ve been holed up in my room. Tony dragged me out a couple hours ago for something to eat because I skipped dinner and then went to bed. I guess we were just busy, huh?” She chuckled weakly and Bruce frowned, standing straight and crossing his arms.

“I still wish someone would’ve mentioned it to me… what if you fell asleep?” He asked, voice wavering with a little frustration and anxiety.

“JARVIS was watching me, and helping to keep me awake. He would’ve let you know if I started dozing off,” she said.

“Kamala…”

She cut him off quickly, not ready to walk down the lecture road regarding blatant disregard for possible danger. She picked at the tab of the soda and raised an eyebrow at him, “So you know my reasons, why are  _ you  _ still awake?”

“Oh, uh, I was helping Peter with his recent batch of web fluid. He used up a lot on today’s mission, I just sent him to bed,” Bruce said.

Kamala felt her heart sink a little. She knew Bruce was prone to late nights in the lab, but hearing he spent pretty much all his time with Peter after returning from the mission until now, was a little upsetting. She felt that little green eyed monster creeping knocking at the doors and she needed to leave before she blew up and said things she would later regret.

“Cool — well, I’m gonna go back to bed, n-not to sleep of course, but uh, keep busy. You had a long day, you should go to sleep. Goodnight Bruce!” She said, quickly and turned on her heel, hellbent on escaping as soon as possible.

“Wh- wait, Kamala!” Bruce called after her, and stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She schooled her face to neutral as he turned her around and furrowed his brow. “Um, why does it feel like you just tried to run away?”

The teenager looked from side to side, and shook her head, chuckling. “Run away? Not me, I- I’m not trying to run away. You’re being too worried again. I just have a ton of work I need to finish and I figured I’d seize this mandated extra time while I have it. Plus you must be exhausted, going Code Green today and then staying up so late.”

“I’m fine actually, but I don’t really believe what you’re saying,” he said, placing his hands on his hips.

She felt a split second of anger race up her spine. She was trying to run away so exactly what was happening, wouldn’t happen. “Ouch, that’s hurtful.”

“Well, so is you running away when I’m trying to talk to you, and then  _ lying  _ about it,” he said sternly.

She ground her teeth together and met his stern face with a scowl. “I’m not lying!” She snapped, voice growing a little louder.

“You’re being ridiculous, Kamala,” he hissed, looking around for anyone who might have come to investigate the heated discussion.

“I am not! I was just trying to go back to my room and suggest you get some rest, but sorry for trying to be considerate!” She shouted, not caring who heard her.

“Stop raising your voice, young lady!” He warned.

She huffed, crossing her arms and he copied her, matching her glare. She could feel angry tears threatening to leak out and she shook her head. 

“I’m going back to my room,” she said, coldly.

“No you’re not, we are finishing this conversation,” he said, pointing at the ground.

“I don’t want to,” she spat.

“I don’t care,” he said.

“I KNOW!” She yelled in exasperation.

Whether he was surprised by her outburst, or what she had said, she wasn’t sure, but his face was bewildered as he tried to process what she said. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Kamala waved her hand in the air and turned away from him, her head pounding with all the building stress. “N-nothing. It means nothing. Just forget it.”

Bruce didn’t stop her, but he followed her to her room unwilling to forget anything. “Kamala, stop, okay? Just stop and tell me what you meant by that, because it’s not nothing.”

She walked into her room and he stayed right at heels waiting for the door to close before speaking again. “Tell me what is going on,” he said, voice quieter, but still adamant.

“I told you, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m fine, I - I’m just tired alright?” She said, using the excuse for the umpteenth time tonite and hoping he would buy it.

She set her soda on her desk, cringing at the bang as she put it down a little too hard and groaned when she realized she would have to wait to open it. She refused to turn around and face him, but in the mirror she could see the frown she was feeling against the back of her head. She hated arguing with him, especially after not even seeing him much or having any sort of conversation before this, but she was frustrated that he wasn’t respecting her wish. She was trying to get over this stupid jealousy and he kept pushing her buttons.

“I am not leaving until you tell me something, Kamala,” he said.

“I  _ told _ you, I’m  _ tired _ ,” she insisted.

“Kamala…”

“Argh!” She screamed through her teeth and turned to him, hands flying wildly. “Why is it when I  _ want  _ you to leave me alone, you can’t!? I keep telling everyone that I’m fine and no one actually tries to let me be! Drop it! Please!?”

Bruce’s frown deepened, eyebrows pinching together painfully and he dropped his arms. “Kamala you’re not making any sense.”

All of her pent up emotions came bursting forth with the angry tears she had been trying to keep at bay. “What is so hard to understand about what I’m saying? I was trying to not make a big deal out of this, but you won’t stop pushing me and pushing me. Now I have a headache and the first actual conversation we’ve had in days has just been arguing. I hate arguing with you.”

She panted and pulled at her hair, dropping down on the bench and leaning forward on her knees. She kept her face turned away as he slowly lowered himself beside her and rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward himself. All Kamala could hear the thundering of her heart against her ribs, the blood rushing past her ears, and breathing like she had sprinted miles. Her head was spinning and the pain from the ache behind her eyes was starting to make her nauseous. Bruce cleared his throat and she squeezed her eyes shut preparing for whatever scolding he was about to give her.

“I don’t like arguing with you either, kiddo,” he whispered, gently.

She opened her eyes, face relaxing and wiped at one of her eyes catching the stray tear on her eyelash. Bruce sighed, “I’m sorry for pushing you, but I want to understand why you’re so upset…. But if you want me to leave, I’ll leave.”

She thought about what he said and considered asking him to go, but she remembered what Tony told her about keeping things bottled up and how it hurt the others around her. She shook her head and mumbled, “No. I don’t want you to leave.”

They sat together in silence, the tension so thick she could cut it with a knife. As much as she didn’t want to tell him what was bothering her, she knew she couldn’t keep pretending she was okay. She looked down at the red carpet beneath her feet, curling her toes into the thread and sniffled. “I’m sorry I yelled,” she whispered.

“And I’m sorry I got cross with you,” he said.

“You don’t need to apologize, I was the one who exploded when you were trying to make sure I was okay. I wasn’t being very fair,” she said.

“Will you tell me what made you so upset?” He asked.

Kamala felt him lay his hand on her shoulder, and she deflated under the soft gesture. She swallowed thickly, and closed her eyes against the spinning room again. She stammered, “I-it’s stupid. I s-shouldn’t have gotten so worked up over it. It’s nothing to worry about, really.”

“Kamala, it was enough to make you this unhappy. That isn’t nothing. Tell me, kiddo. Please?” Bruce pleaded.

She glanced over at him through the curtain of hair blocking his view of her face, and could see the worry etched on his, even as he tried to smile encouragingly. She wrung her hands anxiously and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. 

“I - I’ve been jealous, I guess? I don’t know, it’s so stupid, a-and I feel really stupid for even feeling like it. I’ve been trying to pretend like I’m okay and I figured if I pretended long enough, t-then maybe I would be okay, eventually,” She said.

“What have you been jealous about, Kamala?” He asked.

She looked up at him, the angry tears dropping down her face and lip trembling as she finally confessed. “Peter.”

Bruce still looked confused, reaching over and took her scarred hand into one of his own, rubbing his thumb soothingly across the top. Kamala wiped at her teary eyes again and continued on. 

“Peter’s my friend and I’m really happy he’s here, a-and I’m happy everyone likes him too, because I know how s-scary it was for me when I first met all of you. B-but I feel like everyone likes him - a lot, a lot. Or maybe that's not it exactly. I guess what I’m trying to say is I’ve felt lonely and l-left out a little bit. I know it sounds silly, because I know that's not really true. I just- ,” she bit her lip, scared to tell him how she really felt. He squeezed her hand and she exhaled hard out her nose. “I feel like  _ you _ like him better.”

“Kamala that’s -,” Bruce started to argue, but she interjected quickly, fearing if she stopped now she wouldn’t say it at all. “And I know, I know it’s not true, but it  _ feels  _ like it. I see you look so excited whenever Peter comes into the lab to help you work on a project, o-or you always talk about something Peter figured out and you look so proud. And you guys spend so much time together, I just didn’t want to bother you whenever I saw you. So I tried to stop coming down to the lab, so I wasn’t intruding, you know? I know I’m not the greatest with all that advanced science stuff like physics and chemistry a-and, all that, so I’m glad you have someone like Peter to talk about that with. It all just made me start thinking though, t-that maybe you made a mistake… mentoring me and not someone like Peter, who’s passionate about a lot of the same things you are. And if you wanted to, mentor Peter instead, I would understand. If it makes you happy then I would be happy. Really.”

When she finally looked up at him, he was shocked, like someone had slapped him across the face. She looked away, ripping her hand back and stood up, hugging her arms and shaking her head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. I told you I was just being stupid.”

“Kamala Khan, you stop that right now,” he said, angrily.

She looked back at him and found him standing right in front of her. Bruce fumbled with his hands, unsure and awkward, before he took hold of her shoulders and squeezed. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again.

He shook his head. “No. No, stop. You have nothing to apologize for, sweetheart.  _ I’m sorry.”  _ Bruce pulled her into his arms and squeezed her again. She pressed her ear against his chest, listening to his heart and inhaling the familiar smell of the lab and old books she always recognized as him. 

“Kamala, what you said, couldn’t be farther from what I want,” he mumbled into her hair.

She started to sob, and let her arms relax from around her to wrap around him. He carded his fingers through her hair and whispered soothing words to her as she let it all go. All the pain and anger rushing from her system like a dam breaking. “I missed you so much,” she cried, pressing her face into his shirt.

“Oh Kamala, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I made you feel like this, sweetheart. I wish you would’ve told me sooner,” he said.

“I didn’t want to keep running to you every time I was upset. I thought I could handle this on my own. You looked so happy, I didn’t want to ruin it,” she sniffled, pulling back to look up at him.

Bruce pulled her back to him, crushing her in his embrace. “Kamala, I would never be happy if I knew this is how you were feeling. You’re the most important thing to me. I’m devastated that you’ve been suffering with this and that I ever made you feel like you couldn’t talk to me.”

“It’s not your fault, Bruce,” she said.

He stepped back, glancing behind him to make sure of where he was going and sat on her bed dragging her with him. She nestled into his arms, tucking her head beneath his chin and her legs bent across his lap as he held her. She was glad to be off her feet, feeling light headed again and quite tired now that she had released so much tension. Bruce rubbed circles against her back and spoke quietly, probably trying to be considerate of the headache she had.

“We need to get some things straight, kiddo. Firstly, I do not like Peter more than you. You are far more special to me than just my protege, and no one is ever going to take your place. Second, don’t ever not come to me if you want or need to. You are my first and top priority, and I will drop everything I’m doing in a heartbeat when you need me. Don’t ever feel guilty or like you are intruding, because that is simply not true.”

She nodded in understanding and Bruce tucked her hair back behind her ear, letting his thumb run across her uninjured cheek. “Lastly, if I ever make you feel like all the things I just said might not be true, you tell me. I’m not the sharpest when it comes to noticing things like this, and the last thing I ever want to do is make you feel any less important to me than you really are. I’m so sorry I neglected you, and didn’t give you time to talk with me. Nat was right when she said I fixate on things, and I guess I got so wrapped up in my work I didn’t notice what was happening around me or how much time was going by.”

Kamala frowned. “I don’t want you to feel guilty about doing what you love.”

Bruce shook his head and chuckled sardonically, “Science is my pass time, kiddo. Yeah, I do love the numbers and all of that, and it’s so less, um, stressful than dealing with people. But it doesn’t make me happy, happy. Like a small serotonin hit, and it’s back to busy work.”

“That's what Tony said,” she said, smirking.

“Well, Tony has his brighter moments when he wants to,” Bruce mumbled, and Kamala laughed. He chuckled with her and then sighed, dropping a kiss onto the crown of her head. Kamala closed her eyes, letting herself sink further against him and he hummed unhappily, gently shaking her arm.

“Sorry, kiddo. Can’t fall asleep, remember?” He said.

“But I feel fine,” she whined. “And I’m so tired, and you are so warm.”

“A few more hours and then you can sleep for as long as you want. I’ll stay up with you,” he said.

She shook her head. “I meant what I said earlier about you going to bed. You had a much longer day than I did and I know transformations make you exhausted. I’m okay to stay up by myself.”

“Well, sucks for you because I’m staying,” he said, smirking down at her.

She could see the dark rings around his eyes and his pale complexion, screaming that he needed rest, but she was done arguing. She slipped away from his arms, grabbing her settled soda and popping it open before she crawled back into her spot. She sipped at the drink slowly, feeling her sugar levels spiking immediately as it hit her exhausted system. 

“So, is Peter’s web fluid anything like real spider webs?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bruce shrugged. “I don’t know. I hate bugs.”

Kamala snorted, choking on the fizzy drink that burned her nose and Bruce grinned, patting her back. She was glad she had talked to him, and let him know what was on her mind. Talking with him about anything always made her feel better and he never disappointed no matter how much he doubted his ability to comfort her. For a man of few words, the times he did choose to express himself meant that much more. It always felt like she had her father close when she talked to Bruce, and she desperately wished she would never lose that. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you guys think? Let me know in the comments or Tumblr if you follow me! :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Fruit of the Poisonous Tree](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28782150) by [Chess_Blackfyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chess_Blackfyre/pseuds/Chess_Blackfyre)




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